Men, be who God wants you to be

I saw the following picture on Facebook recently.  I thought it was a spot-on perfect message to this generation’s men.

So, men, what did God create you to be?  Please check out a previous article I made to find out, called Traits of Real Men, And They’re Getting Rare Nowadays.  May we all endeavor to be that kind of man.  I am still trying.  

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Traits of real men, and they’re getting rare nowadays

 One of the funniest and most popular status messages on my Facebook timeline is actually Biblical advice geared towards single young ladies.  It goes something like this:

"To all the girls who are in a hurry to have a boyfriend or get married, a piece of Biblical advice: ‘Ruth patiently waited for her mate Boaz.’ While you are waiting on YOUR Boaz, don’t settle for any of his relatives; Broke-az, Po-az, Lyin-az, Cheating-az, Dumb-az, Drunk-az, Cheap-az, Lockedup-az, Goodfornothing-az, Lazy-az, and especially his third cousin Beatinyo-az. Wait on your Boaz and make sure he respects Yoaz."

I don’t care who you are, that’s funny!  But at the same time, it’s also a bit serious, and not just to the ladies, but to the men. 

This was further emphasized when a former student of mine, who just entered his first weeks of college, came back to the school to visit.  I’m honored that he sees me as more than a mere teacher, but as a personal mentor, and he tells me everything from ambitions to fears to observations to secrets.  This is what he said after he experienced his first week of college life:

“You know, Mr. Carlo, the guys in my class talk about what being a man is, and for them it’s about the ability to drink lots of alcohol and stuff like that.  I wanna show them what real manhood is…based on what the Bible says.”

I can’t get the words exactly right, but that’s the basics of what he said.  While I was proud of him that he said so (influencing the character of young people: one reason I love my job, hehe), I felt sad that there are so few guys like that and they’re getting fewer all the time.  While I’m confident he can successfully go against the flow, it’s a pretty big flow….like, Amazon river flow.   

Eight myths of what it means to be male

I came upon this excellent article in New Man magazine on what real manhood is.  The article covers eight myths and eight truths on male authority as it relates to our wives and our homes, to be exact.  It was truly blessed and challenged by it, especially since, from what I see, it is not often practiced nowadays.

I’ll list down the eight myths here (without explanations, you’ll have to go to the article for that):

Myth #1: Male authority means male dominance.

Myth #2: Exercising strength leads to abuse.

Myth #3: Men need to be more feminine to be sensitive.

Myth #4: For women to be empowered, men must be disempowered.

Myth #5: We shouldn’t raise our boys to enjoy “manly” activities.

Myth #6: We need to feminize God in order to not favor men.

Myth #7: If men lead in the home, then they will be free to boss women around in all society.

Myth #8: Authority is about making declarations, not taking personal responsibility to see them through to a beneficial end.

Nobody can ever be this manly!

To find out what they mean, as well as what a real man should be, you can go on to the New Man article here. 

I sure hope you click on it.  I strongly believe that each home, each workplace, each city, whether in America, or the Philippines, or in Timbuktu, yearns for the right type of man to rise up.  A good man.  A real man.   And according to my female friends, these good men are getting harder and harder to come by these days. 

In Psalm 101:2-4, David says (to God)

I will be careful to lead a blameless life—
  when will you come to me?
I will conduct the affairs of my house
   with a blameless heart.
I will not look with approval
   on anything that is vile.
I hate what faithless people do;
   I will have no part in it.
The perverse of heart shall be far from me;
   I will have nothing to do with what is evil.

David made his mistakes, for sure.  But he owned up…every single time.   He was real.  A real man.  A real man after God’s own heart.  That’s the kind of man I want to be.  And the principles and traits of a real man that are covered in the said article are a great help for me to get there.