The Duty of Manhood

As I mixed the pie for “Man Sunday” (a day devoted to men cooking for the women with a sermon on Biblical manhood) at my church, I couldn’t help but wonder over the definition of manhood.  In a society where gender is seen purely as social constructs, defining manhood can become a quite a task, even a risk.  It will most likely end with the slanders of bigoted, sexist, or politically incorrect.  All words espoused by those in opposition of Christian values far too often.  Manhood is none of these.  It is a concept best defined by General Patton: “Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge. It brings out all that is best; it removes all that is base. All men are afraid in battle. The coward is the one who lets his fear overcome his sense of duty. Duty is the essence of manhood.”

Our country is currently engaged in a battle, and I’m not referring to the multiple wars in other countries.  I’m referring to the one taking place within our borders.  It is a war of ideas and philosophy.  It is a war between Secularists and Christians.  It is a war of morality.  No war is as important as the one for the hearts and minds of the people. For it is the hearts and minds which gave power to Hitler.  It is the hearts and minds which allowed the Bolshevik Revolution.  Whenever men forsake their duty, sin destroys.  Nowhere is the price of men forsaking their duty clearer than in the Garden of Eden.  Man, from the beginning, has been given the keys to safeguarding the Law.

Manhood is not a means of physical or emotional abuse.  It is not a means of “keeping a woman in her place.”  Manhood is a call to capture the hearts and minds of the family.  It is the call of Joshua: “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”  When scripture records that God is in the midst of two or three, it is not to give comfort to small churches.  It is the number of a family.  When a family comes together—when a father disciples his wife and children, God is there.  Men, capture the hearts of your children.  Capture the hearts of your wives.  It is through them that Christ’s kingdom will increase and sin will decrease.  This is the duty of men.

Faith when Faced with Mortality

My nights were restless for the space of three days.  During this time I battled an oppression of the mind as I had never before.  On rare occasions, before my marriage, I had battled mild depression; but, this was entirely different.  At twenty-six still untouched by death my mind hurtled me toward thoughts of mortality.  I lost my wife, my brothers, my parents, essentially anyone with meaning to me faced disease and death.  These night terrors followed me through the days as well, and I begin to wonder why a sovereign God would allow such things.  Wasn’t He powerful enough to save everyone?  Couldn’t He have stopped sin from entering the world?  My belief, in who God is, answered back with an emphatic yes to both queries.  Then why does God allow the continuation of sin and its consequences?  I searched the writings of theologians and found only the answers I had previously heard.  The struggle continued until Sunday morning.  As I entered service I hoped for a divine revelation that would answer once and for all this profound question.  When service ended it was without divine revelation, but the uneasiness that had settled in my mind was healed.  The question remained but peace co-existed with it.  I continued my search for answers on Monday.  I looked both to scripture and theologians.  The answers were the same as my last search, but this time I found peace in them.  I knew He could have stopped sin, but I also understood that somewhere in the pain of our existence God was working a good unimaginable to me.  I knew this because the Bible told me this through the evil which befell Joseph but saved unknown thousands and most gloriously through the evil that befell the Son of Man.  It was on this Earth that God experienced the loss of a friend as Man.  It was on this Earth that God bore the sufferings due to us and poured out His blood for our eternal life.  This gift of love so overshadowed the evil of this world that my restless mind calmed and found solace in scripture:

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to [his] purpose. (Romans 8:28 KJV)

When the call came at three AM on Wednesday morning from the sobbing wife of my best friend I was prepared.  The few days of struggling with my faith in the midst of imagined pain had prepared me to deal with her tearful words: “He went into cardiac arrest.  It doesn’t look good.”  Both my wife and I fell to our knees.  We fell before Him because we knew all things work to a purpose we cannot understand, even death.  We prayed because we knew the hands that held my friend’s life were the same hands that made the lame walk, made the dumb speak, made the blind see, and made the dead rise.  They were the same hands that had bore the wages of sin and given hope of eternal life, and they were the hands that would comfort us if the unthinkable occurred.  By the grace of God my friend’s life was spared, and he is now walking down the halls of the hospital undergoing rehab.  I still have no divine revelations regarding the mysteries of God in the area of suffering and death, but I do know that without His hands there is no purpose to any of it.

My Intent

Within this blog I hope to reveal my thoughts, through the lens of a Christian Worldview, on everything from art to politics to daily life.  I hope you enjoy this journey as much as I will enjoy writing the posts.