But, much more than a personal aid in growing older, the Scriptures are being proven true, time and again, in the world around me. I've moved from the young father and husband to a more seasoned, but equally wide-eyed, father of 4. I've wrestled inmates. I preached funerals. I've sat around conference tables with wealthy executives at the height of their business success and watched as they weep when it all evaporates. The culmination of those experiences thus far call me to passages like James 4:13-15.
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
Indeed, there is more to being a man that finding success in business or accumulating wealth.
And today, as I watch the American experiment totter under the weight of social disruptions, crippled morality and ineffective leadership I cannot help but think back to all the times in history when things seemed irrecoverable. As cities burn and explosives fly, as police are attacked and established institutions come under criticism, it can be easy to grow bitter or to be swept up in the excitement. But history can be rightly viewed as the pause for a rushed, ragged breath between periods of unrest. The books are written after the bombs stop falling or the waters recede or the statues are toppled. This was true for the era when the Bible was written as well. Nearly all of the Scriptures were written during or about a time of intense trouble, either personal or national. And all historical writing, be they secular or sacred, are predominately occupied with how men responded to the peril facing their families, their communities, their nations and the world.
Regardless of the lenses worn by the authors, as a man of faith, I have become increasingly convinced that God sits astride the affairs of men, His hands open and engaged in the active completion of His plans. This worldview, or framework of interpreting the events and outcomes in light of God's revealed word, mean that births, deaths, wars, famines, genocides, atrocities, captivities, and seemingly irredeemable and unrelated tragedies are actually single notes in the Symphony of Redemptive History. This can be seen throughout the Scriptures, from Adam to the Apostles. Paul puts an edge on that blade in Romans 8:18-25
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Where does this leave a man in the current American climate? Where does it leave that man that must wrestle with how to respond to the society around him while protecting and leading his wife and children? That man finds himself toeing the line of greatness. He looks up at the winding, mountainous trail with determination and resolve, not fear or retreat. As the popular voices shout for destruction or hedonism, material success or personal gratification, men of God understand that their chief end is to bring glory to God and find their enjoyment in Him. Men of faith understand that God has always called men to work, to subdue, to preside, to lead and to simultaneously rest, be subdued, to defer to One greater and to be led themselves. These are the marks of the great men we read of. These are the marks of men that leave legacies and heritages worth writing of.
This model of manliness is one predicated upon being a man of faith, walking against the flow, head bowed in prayer but shoulders strong in the face of the challenges before him. Doug Wilson describes this as 'the glad assumption of sacrificial responsibility." Nowhere is this more clearly demonstrated than in the man, Jesus Christ. And, in Christ, God is calling men back to Himself, to be made new and then conformed to the image of God (2 Corinthians 2:19). While there are many loud voices shouting for their version of manliness, the mark has been set in stone and written in blood by Christ who gladly assumed responsibility for us by sacrificing Himself. The call of Christ to men has not changed. We are to imitate Him as we follow Him.
And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. - Luke 9:23
If men were called to follow Christ, daily, under the occupation of Rome and that call was enough to set the world ablaze with the Gospel of Christ throughout the ages, then it remains today, unchanged. Burning cities, raging crowds, toppling statues, diseases, masks and a litany of things that are all the rage today are but a footnote in the life of a man of faith. Self-denial, not an exercise in stoicism for the sake of simplicity or discipline only but, rather, as an agreement in faith that God's ways are better, higher and truer than our own. We ascribe Lordship to Him by willingly, daily, bowing our heart to Him and allowing him to transform us.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world,[c] but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. - Romans 12:1-2
It is not seeking comfort, but conformity to Christ. It is not seeking ease, but evangelistic effectiveness. It is not seeking success, but sanctification. It is not seeking happiness, but holiness. This manhood understands that to find holiness, sanctification, evangelistic effectiveness and conformity to Christ is to find happiness in this life and the next. This is the manhood that stands the test of time.
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