Manhood is something that is quite controversial today. We have universities speaking about toxic masculinity and about aggressive male behavior. On the other side of the coin we have people that are trying to attack a person’s god given gender at birth. That you can identify as whatever you feel, if you are a male and you identify as a female then you should be a female and vice versa. People are quite confused on how to act nowadays with all of the different ideology about human behavior. We have thrown everything out the door and accepted everything as long as they are not violent. We will not tolerate violence, but we will tolerate everything else. As a society the world must look at the United States and think that we have lost our minds. We have gotten so far away from what established us as the greatest nation in the world. And that was our Christian beliefs and our entire governing society being ruled by the “Word of God” (The Holy Bible).

Most people do not know true American History. We have a very watered down version of our history that has been taught for the last hundred years. We have took all of the spiritual side of our greatest leaders out of the text books and just focused on what they accomplished. We do not teach why they did what they did, and how they did so much of what they did to glorify God. If you would like to learn more about our great leaders, men and women alike, then check out www.Wallbuilders.com David Bartons videos and archives are some of the best American history that I have ever seen.

Now let’s get back to the subject at hand Manhood. We see the perfect example of how a man should act and their attitude in the person of Jesus Christ. We see a man that at the age of twelve years old knew why he was here and was willing to do his father’s business. When his parents took him to Jerusalem for Passover and then they started home, they realized that they had left him in Jerusalem, so they went back and found him. They found him in the Temple speaking with the Pharisees, and when they asked him what he was doing he responded that “he was about his father’s business”. Jesus knew at a very early age that he had a purpose here.

Men today have a hard time understanding what their purpose is, they believe that they are supposed to go out and make as money as possible, work endless hours, provide everything monetarily possible to their wife and kids. But they are missing the point all together. I have found throughout the years that most women actually want their man’s time and attention more than money and possessions. Their children definitely want daddy’s time and attention more than possessions. We have failed as men by buying the lie. We need to get our priorities straight and straighten out society. We need to balance our lives and quit buying into all of the ills in society. We need to find our purpose that God has ordained in our lives and do it. If you are married, then be the husband that your wife needs. A man that has integrity, does the right thing every time. Is honest and trustworthy, a man of his word. Someone that she can trust with her heart and feel secure about herself and who she is. Someone that will not reveal her secrets and that she feels safe with. If you are a dad, then start acting like one!!! Be at your kids sporting events, tell them that you love them, spend time with them, and learn to be involved with them in what they like. Find somethings that you guys can bond in. You are the dad, put your best foot forward. Be the dad you always wanted, even if your dad was not that guy.

In the Bible there are two people that are spoken about the most, the first one is Jesus Christ and the second one is King David. The Bible clearly states that the Bible was written about Jesus, but obviously God thought that it was important to give us a bunch of really good examples of do’s and don’ts in His word. Now King David’s life is clearly written about more than any other person in the Bible besides Jesus Himself, so I would conclude that there are a lot of lessons to learn from David’s life. When we look at David, he first appears as a boy tending sheep, a not so favored son by his father. But God did not look at David as his earthly father did. God seen what David was going to become and his earthly father did not see David’s potential at all. In the Bible it says that God looks at the heart and God said that David was a man after his own heart. So when we look at Scripture about David we can kind of see a glimpse into the heart of God and how God thinks a man should act. Now David was a fairly humble guy in general, until it came to being put under the gun, then he was not afraid to react. When we see how he went up against Goliath we see that David knew that the battle was the LORD’s and he let it be clearly known. He told Goliath that he was going up against God, not the little shepherd boy that he was looking at, but Goliath did not believe him.

This is the first attribute that I would like to address as being a man. Understanding that you have a purpose and that God created you with one. It says in Scripture that the “Fear of the LORD is the beginning of Wisdom”, it also says that the “Fear of the LORD is the beginning of Understanding” and the “Fear of the LORD is the beginning of Knowledge”. And I believe the reason that the LORD gives us all of these statements is because he wants us as men to have wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. Now wisdom is knowing the truth and following through with it. For knowledge is to know something, but wisdom is knowing what to do with right knowledge. Understanding comes throughout your lifetime with different experiences and knowledge, being wise enough to surround yourself with wise counsel, being willing to accept constructive criticism, not destructive criticism, for there is a difference, one builds you up and the other one is designed to tear you down. This is where true knowledge, that is, God’s word, will help you discern the difference between what is from God and what is not. For God has a plan and purpose for your life. It is not just to be a husband or a father, but to be a godly man full of faith, with an outstanding character. He desires to make you into the kind of man that you have always desired to be. A man who can be counted on, a man who stands by his word, he does what he says and can be trusted. A man who has a good moral compass and will be there when no one else is. God will give you the strength to be this guy. We cannot do all of these things on our own, and even if we do, we will not be good enough in God’s eyes. For He tells us that “No, not one is righteous” that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That we need a Savior!!! And that this Savior is Jesus Christ. That He died on a cross for our sins and that all we have to do to get right with God is to accept what He has done on the cross in our behalf. His death on the cross has made us right with God, and because of His shed blood we are made right with God, if we accept Him as our LORD and Savior. This is where your true Manhood will begin. This is where God will show you your purpose!!! He has great plans for your life, but you need to submit to His purposes. Believe in Him and trust that His plans are better than yours and sit back and watch what He will do!!!!

Now David had a hard road ahead of him after his defeat of Goliath. He did kill the giant and get rewarded greatly by the king, but the king became very jealous of David and tried to kill him a few different times. It even got so bad, that the king went after David with his entire army. But God protected David and delivered him from King Saul. Now when you study David’s life you will see that he was just like all of us. A very simple guy, but a guy who was in touch with his entirety. He knew who he was, he knew what he felt, and he even knew how to express it, this part I think a lot of men lack. We sometimes have a difficult time expressing ourselves. But when you read thru the Psalms you will see that David did not have a hard time expressing himself. He knew how to love, he knew how to hate, he knew who his enemies were, he knew who his God was, and he was very well rounded. David was obviously friendly and made a lot of friends. According to Scripture, when he was out running from Saul, that he eventually had a four hundred man army of his own. It is also recorded that David had thirty mighty men who were great warriors like David himself.

This is the second attribute of being a man, being friendly, kind hearted. The kind of guy that people are comfortable around. David was this kind of guy and so was Jesus. People loved being around these guys, they both attracted people to them. Why? Because they were friendly, not so judgmental, they accepted people for who they were. They brought something to the people, kindness, loyalty, love, the kind of qualities that people look at today and say you are weak if you act like that. That isn’t macho!!! What a thought, to think that either of these men were not macho enough. King David killed thousands of men in battle, protected Israel and defeated all of their enemies. And Jesus, well he was so macho that he died on a cross a horrible death that he did not deserve for our sakes. He had all the power of heaven to destroy his enemies, yet chose not to. Who else does these kinds of things?

The third attribute I would like to address as being a man is that of being in touch with your emotions. Most men suppress their emotions and think this is what you do as a man. You stuff all of your emotions that you do not know what to do with and just keep putting them in your heart. Well, the problem with that is you will finally just blow up! Everything that you continue to stuff in there will eventually find its way out and in the worst way. Men do this all the time. They lose their cool and just blow up, because they have never been taught how to deal with their emotions. Instead of controlling their emotions, their emotions control them. Let’s use anger as an example, most men let anger control them, instead of them controlling their anger. Anger is just one emotion of many, but a lot of men lose their control right there. When they get mad, they do stupid things, because they do not know how to control themselves. Now David and Jesus again are great examples of anger under control. David was being hunted by Saul and he had an opportunity to kill Saul and did not do it. Even though his men tried to get him to. But David chose to spare Saul’s life and show him mercy. Even Saul himself said that David was a better man than him for doing this. And Jesus did not condemn the people who hung him on that cross, instead he prayed to the Father, “Forgive them for they know not what they do”, he was praying for those who just crucified him, he knew he was going to die. Both of these men were completely in touch with their manhood. They knew how to laugh, they knew what to do with their lives, they knew that they had purpose, they knew how to cry, they knew how to control their anger, not let their anger control them, they knew how to love, even the unlovable ones. They were both great men of God!!! On the subject of crying, men are taught to suck it up and you are weak if you cry, but the shortest verse in the Bible is “Jesus wept”. The reason Jesus wept was that He had foreknowledge of what was going to happen to Jerusalem in the future. He seen the destruction of the city, the raping and the pillaging that was to happen and it saddened His heart. Crying does not make you weak, it makes you in touch with your feelings. There are legitimate reasons to cry and God did not give all of us tear ducts for no reason. I personally believe that women are a little bit more in touch with their emotions and that is the reason that they cry more than men, but this is not a bad attribute. It is part of who they are.

Now the fourth attribute that I would like to address is being a leader and not a push over. There are many times in Scripture that a man is manipulated by someone who has their own agenda. But I am only going to use three instances in order to get the point across. The first one is going to look at the instance that Adam and Eve brought sin into this world. Adam was told by God before Eve even existed that he was not to eat of the tree in the middle of the garden. Now we see later in Scripture that Adam and Eve are now at the tree and that Eve is deceived by the Serpent and then she talks Adam into eating of the fruit of the tree that he was not supposed to eat of. Some want to blame Eve for this, but as far as Scripture teaches, she was deceived and Adam made a choice. This was Adam’s downfall, following Eve instead of following God. He was not being the leader that God had called him to be. The second instance is Father Abraham and how he and Sarah could not have children, so Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham as a wife in order to bear children. Then when Hagar became pregnant it says that she looked at Sarah with contempt. So Sarah was upset and blamed Abraham for her bad decision. So he told Sarah to deal with Hagar however she wanted. So Sarah was harsh with Hagar and she ran away. But by God’s grace an angel appeared to Hagar in the desert and told her to go back and to submit to Sarah, that she would be blessed if she did this. So Hagar did as the angel said and God blessed her for that. But again we see a man who is listening to his wife instead of the LORD and paying the price for it. He was not leading correctly again. Abraham and Sarah had both been told years earlier that God was going to bless them with children, but Abraham did not put Sarah in check when she suggested Hagar as the solution, instead he bowed down to his fleshly desires and got Hagar pregnant. The third instance I want to bring up is when Job was being tested by the LORD and he and his wife lost everything, including their ten children. This was ordained of the LORD for our purpose, to show that he will let calamity into our lives, but that it has to go through him. That Satan can do nothing without the approval of God. Now we do not understand sometimes, why? But we clearly see in the Book of Job that this is a fact. Now when Job was at his lowest point his wife approached him and told him to curse God and die. But Job did not do this, but instead told his wife “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” Job was putting his wife in check and also leading her in the way in which she should go. Job was not at all happy in the circumstances, but he also understood that this was God’s will for their lives. He was leading by example and showing his wife that she needs to humble herself before God and receive the adversity that has come into their lives. Job was a good leader! David was a good leader! Jesus was the ultimate leader!!! He lived a sinless life, died on the cross for the sins of the world, and now sits at the right hand side of the throne in heaven, still teaching us how to lead. It is said that a good leader will have those who follow them, but it is also said that a great leader will teach those he or she is with how to lead themselves. I do not know what kind of leader you follow, but I follow Jesus and he is a great leader teaching those who follow him, how to lead!!!! Emulate Jesus and his character and you will not go wrong. Job did well, David had his faults, but Jesus did everything right. Pray to God that He will continue to make you more like Jesus every day and accept yourself for who you are, correct yourself when the Holy Spirit convicts you and continue to make wise decisions.

Being a man is not going to work and bringing home money, it is being responsible and taking care of your family. Being a man is not about hanging out with the boys after work and drinking beer. It is about going home and addressing the needs of your family. Helping your wife and spending quality time with your kids. Get to know them the way they want to know you. Being a man is not losing you cool and acting like a fool. It is about leading your family in a godly manner and leading by example. Are you going to blow it, of course you are, but keep trying and keep praying that God will teach you how to do it the way he wants you too.

Being a man is about turning from a boy into a man. Letting God shape your character into who you are supposed to be. Someone who stands up for righteousness. Someone who will not stand by and let this country of ours become a cess pool for the wicked. Someone who will do the right thing, even if it costs him something. God blesses right choices and curses wrong ones. Always make the right choice!!! When you do not know what to do, ask God and He will direct your path. He will bring the right person into your path to show you the way, or He Himself will open up a door to go thru. God will never leave you or forsake you!!!! You need to be this same way, a person in whom others can count on in their time of need. Being a man is to be sacrificial, giving to others, showing mercy to others, being graceful with others. Bringing judgment if you absolutely have to. Making hard decisions that might cost you dearly. Transforming into a man from a boy is a hard thing. It is not easy, but thank God, He does it for us through a whole series of events that we go through in life. We call it maturity and I believe that God is the one who matures us, for I have met sixty year old boys. Men that have never matured, still acting like boys. Boys trapped in men’s bodies. I believe as a man you should never lose that inner child, but you need to man up when you need to. Go home be with your wife, be the friend that you should be, be the father that you should be, be responsible at work, be a man of integrity, be a man of your word, be the kind of man that other men look up to. It is not about the car that you drive or the house that you live in, but about who you are as a person. Be the kind of man that others admire, that they want to get to know, that they can count on!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope that this article has blessed you and that you will share it with others that you know need to man up or at the very least would be able to benefit their souls. That it would affirm to others what it is like to be a man and DO NOT ever let someone tell you that you did the wrong thing when you know in your heart of hearts that you did not. You only have one that will judge you on judgment day and that is God, so don’t be a man pleaser, but be a God pleaser! I love you guys and I hope that the LORD will bless each and every one of you that read this article!!!!!!!!! Have a blessed life and enjoy your manhood, remember GOD made you to be a man and to act like one!!!!!!!!!!