What manhood looks like. . .

The sad truth is that manhood is in peril.  While the obvious enemies of masculinity are the fluid gender bending that parades as truth and the rainbows of sexual desire that impose themselves upon God's order, the threat is no less from the far right.  I do not need to rehearse on this page the many things written about the threats to boys becoming men from the lunatic left, it seems I must also list the threats to the same from those who confuse the virtue of manhood with self-indulgence, violence, and adolescence.  

The shape of manhood is formed not from beer guzzling or cigar smoking or guns blazing or fists raised but a strong and orthodox faith and spiritual life rooted and planted in God's Word.  Sure, you can drink your craft beer and puff on your cigars and that is fine but the essence of manhood is knowing who you are from knowing who God is.  I enjoy a single malt and a fine gin and am adamant about the right to bear arms but neither of these is a reflection of masculinity's virtue.  Within the Christian revelation of God's Word, manhood finds its nobility in the affirmation that God has a face and a name and is a person.  It is from our Lord's own incarnation that we understand what it means to be human (for us all) and what it means to be a man (for males).  Our Lord's masculinity is not incidental to who He is or why He has come nor is it peripheral to us as a people and to those who are the sons of the Father through Him.  As the baptized sons of God, we learn from Him what it means to live and what is our place in this world because we have a place and belong to the world to come.

If you want to be a man, learn this truth and practice it.  Be in God's House every Lord's Day.  Bow your head in prayer devoutly believing the promise of God to hear and answer.  Genuflect before the blessed food of Christ's flesh for the life of the world.  Depart from this blessed encounter intent upon serving as Christ has served you.  The first mark of the virtue of masculinity is faith, piety, and sacrificial service.  It does not matter how many tattoos or guns you have or how well you can hold your liquor, without this spiritual life you are a child and a little boy.  Lets be honest about this.  It is the strongest of men who can bow the knee to the Lord, knowing their sinful frame and His goodness and rejoicing in His mercy.  Religion is not a crutch but the crucible in which true manhood is formed.

The second pillar upholding masculinity is self-control.  The real man does not have to say everything that pops into his mind.  The real man does not have to indulge his every desire.  The real man does not bully others with a false bravado that masks his weakness and prevents real strength.  The real man does not do what he wants but wants what God wills -- that, the fruit of the Spirit's work in him through his life of worship, prayer, and service.  In a world of indulgent children, we long for the strong who can say no to self and yes to others.  What would things look in our nation and in our world if men truly manifested the fruits of self-control in devotion to their wives, children, homes, neighborhoods, and workplaces?  Instead, we live at a time when those who think they are men would rather amuse themselves to death than build up the home by loving their wives, children, and neighbors as God has loved them.  Where there is a man who invests himself into his church, family, home, community, and honest lab, there is something noble and honorable -- the strongest of the strong.

The third mark of manhood is responsibility.  It begins with boys who learn to take responsibility for themselves, for their spaces, for their relationships, for their things, and for their place within the community.  Godly men do not plead excuse or spout justifications for their refusal to act with duty.  They accept the responsibilities that accompany their place as men and as grownups in this world of children.  It is ridiculous how we have made a joke out of adulting.  It is not a joke.  The joke is living on your screen entertaining yourselves while your spirits wither and die within you.  The joke is living off of somebody else's internet or content to find the next payment for your digital toys.  The joke is surrendering your integrity for the sake of expediency in life, work, and pleasure.  Grow up.  Man up.  Accept responsibility even for those things that are not necessarily yours.  Live to fulfill what is your duty and pray that this duty becomes your delight.

Ambrose said it this way:  "A man is rightly called a king who makes his own body an obedient subject and by governing himself with suitable rigor refuses to let his passions breed rebellion in his soul." Augustine said it this way:  "Love God and do whatever you please, for the soul trained in love to God will do nothing to offend the one who is beloved."  Luther found marriage as essential to masculinity and its virtue as to the children nurtured within its structure.  It is about time that Christians re-framed what godly manhood looks like and it is about time that we formed boys into such men and held up this masculinity to the world.  Without this witness, it will surely be swallowed up by the rainbows of the left who cannot find anything but a toxic masculinity and those on the left will indulge their adolescence with adult toys presuming that this macho image is what it means to be a real man.