For today’s Marriage Monday segment, I am busy this week preparing for our HomeWord worship service this Friday night. Last time we introduced roles and then tonight, we are going to launch into the role of the man. It seems to me that more and more in our culture, we are seeing an increase in the feminization of men. This summer at a youth camp we attended, I spoke to a single college-aged woman who was simply wanting men to be men and take the lead. This is certainly true in marriage.
All men, I think, find it easy to drift into passivity. We don’t have a plan. We don’t have goals that we want to accomplish when it comes to our marriages and families. When we do get time with our wives away from the children, we are asking her what her thoughts are and in doing so, in some cases, surrending the leadership to which we have been called. Rather than walking into these times with our wives in loving leadership, we walk in blind asking them to set the spiritual direction and goals for our relationship. We must recover Biblical manhood. This is like Piper called, “torching a glacier.” This isn’t easy. It takes hard work to be a godly man.
I remember studying “A Godly Man’s Picture” with some men a few years ago. We were looking at characteristics like faithfulness, lover of the church, basic piety stuff. They both told me they weren’t interested in the study any longer because and I am quoting here, “IT WASN’T PRACTICAL.” Here we were dealing with the core component of what it meant to be a godly man (relationship with God) and it wasn’t practical. With all of this onslaught, our greatest need as men, then, is to simply be the disciples we have been called to be. Jesus has called us first and foremost to follow Him. We should follow Him, then. We shouldn’t put up excuses as to why our children, wives and family is not godly. That is our responsibility and it falls to us to lead in word and example. So this is my call to men. Are you ready to be the man God has called you to be. Let’s quit playing games and step into obedience as followers of Christ. Let’s glorify Him by being obedient to His Word — especially those parts that speak of our loving leadership. May the result be that families are reformed for the glory of God…