GENUINE MANHOOD

If you’re wanting to learn about genuine manhood, this is the first step. Men often don’t like to admit their inadequacies and we don’t like changing our minds. And yet historically, taking responsibility has been viewed as a very masculine trait. Culture has even now deemed it “manning up”. Taking extreme ownership regarding faults, failures, inability, and sin (yes, sin!) is part of becoming a real man no matter how old you are. How so? Here are a few considerations:

Becoming a Christian man requires admitting I’ve over-estimated myself.

Many men tend to have inflated views of their own abilities. No matter how selfish, deceptive, lazy, or immoral men can be in this world, we still convince ourselves that when we stand before God that He’ll be impressed. And yet we’ve missed a crucial point- we’ve compared ourselves with people we believe are worse than us. God will not compare you to them. He will compare you to the ultimate man, the perfect man — Jesus Christ. Frankly, there is no comparison. God is not going to count your sins and weigh them against your good deeds. He will simply know you as what you are at your very nature- a sinner like everyone else who falls short of being like Jesus. Consider Romans 3:12, Romans 3:23, and Romans 5:12 below.

They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Romans 3:12

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Romans 5:12

Becoming a Christian man requires admitting there is something I cannot do for myself.

Most men insist that they’re good men and that they can accomplish anything to which they put their minds. But consider Romans 6:23, Titus 3:5-6, and Ephesians 2:8-9 below. According to those verses, there is one major thing NO man can do for himself- put his own soul into a right standing before a holy God. So, I’ll give it to you straight - change your mind! Admit you’re a sinner and you deserve God’s judgment, and believe upon his grace toward you. There is NOTHING ELSE you can do to become a Christian man, like it or not. Jesus did the hard thing we could not do. He died in our place (1 Peter 3:18a below). He was our substitute. And He can place you into right standing with God if you put your trust in Him to do so, not in yourself.

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23

Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Titus 3:5-6

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God… 1 Peter 3:18

Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Romans 3:24

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Romans 10:13

Becoming a Christian man will lead to me incrementally bringing myself under the command of the Lord.

Changing your mind and putting your trust in Jesus to place you in right standing with God is the best thing that can happen to you. That’s called being born again or regeneration. But what about after that? What about after the Lord has saved you? The call to the Christian life, to Christian manhood, is not a call to nothing, after all. It is a step into a new role, a new responsibility. Becoming born again is not like a flu shot where you get it and move on with life as usual, forgetting you got it and just thinking you’re inoculated. Christianity is a higher calling. Consider Ephesians 2:10 and Titus 2:11-12 below. Jesus is the perfect man and our Substitute because of who He is - God in the flesh (see Colossians 2:9 below). This makes Him the rightful Lord over all, including our habits, choices, and everything else about us. Christian manhood then becomes a new life in which we are a new creation, learning a new discipline under the command of a Lord who is better at leadership than any Coach, Instructor, or General among men. And thankfully, He gives us everything we need to follow Him faithfully. Men don’t often like to be under leadership because their leaders are always regular men like us, with sins, inadequacies, and faults. But not Jesus! Because He’s God, He’s the perfect Lord- the perfect Leader. He’s the perfect Father. It’s an honor like no other to be His servant, His soldier, and part of His family.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10

For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world. Titus 2:11-12

For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. Colossians 2:9

Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. 1 Corinthians 16:13

Christian masculinity is the only real masculinity. This means becoming a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. A man doesn’t come to God his own way. He must only come God’s way or no way at all. Your journey into Christian manhood begins here, right now with how you respond to all that you just read. Choose well.