I received this as an email and wanted to share it with you! I hope it resonates with you as much as it has with me and causes some followup in your own life. I know it is mine.
-Jeff
If you are relying on the culture to try and understand what a man is, you will be deeply confused. You won’t drink wisdom from the fountain of fools. Modern society is so at war with itself, that it can’t even decide on a definition of a man, let alone form them in a healthy way.
Is a man someone who defends his wife with violence from insults, or allows her to sleep with other men in an open marriage? Is a man someone in touch with his feelings, or someone "who needs ammunition, not a ride." Is a man someone who identifies as one, or is born one biologically?
So much time is spent in debate, defense, argumentation, legislation and commentary. And so little of it is helpful. It seems that the casualties of our culture war are men themselves. Is there a way to move beyond our argument and debate?
I have a quote that’s framed in my office. It’s by Marcus Aurelius and something I meditate on regularly.
"Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one."
The truth is this, how you live is what you believe, everything else is just talk. If your opinion is stronger than your character, shut up, and let your character catch up to your rhetoric. Talk is cheap, growth is costly. Debating an article is easy, defeating your own self-destructing patterns is a war. Are you wasting time arguing with others when you should be working on yourself?
If you have a vision of what a good man should be, be one.
If you have a vision of what a good Dad should be, be one.
If you have a vision of what a loving husband should be, be one.
If you have a vision of what a hardworking man should be, be one.
If you have a vision of what a good friend should be, be one.
Silence the arguments of our culture with your life.
Be the Dad your kids need from you. The most important thing is not what the culture says about fathers, but about the kind of father you are.
The most important thing is not what the culture says a normal family is, it’s that you love and serve and sacrifice to make your family the thing God has called it to be.
Be the healthy male figure in your world.
Be the servant leader in your community.
Be the safe man women can trust without fear of coercion.
Be gentle in a world of aggression.
Be kind in a world or cruelty.
Be wise in a world of fools.
Be just in a world of tyrants.
Be disciplined in a culture of excess.
Be faithful in a world of compromise.
Be loving in world of hate.
Be hopeful in a time of despair
Be proactive in a world of passivity.
How you live is what you believe, everything else is just talk.
Your life is your argument about manhood.
Work on that.
Jesus didn’t spend much time arguing about what a messiah was, he just loved, sacrificed, taught, confronted and saved the world. He didn’t debate, he did.
He was one.
May God give you grace to be the man your world needs.
Cheers.
Jon.
-Jeff
If you are relying on the culture to try and understand what a man is, you will be deeply confused. You won’t drink wisdom from the fountain of fools. Modern society is so at war with itself, that it can’t even decide on a definition of a man, let alone form them in a healthy way.
Is a man someone who defends his wife with violence from insults, or allows her to sleep with other men in an open marriage? Is a man someone in touch with his feelings, or someone "who needs ammunition, not a ride." Is a man someone who identifies as one, or is born one biologically?
So much time is spent in debate, defense, argumentation, legislation and commentary. And so little of it is helpful. It seems that the casualties of our culture war are men themselves. Is there a way to move beyond our argument and debate?
I have a quote that’s framed in my office. It’s by Marcus Aurelius and something I meditate on regularly.
"Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one."
The truth is this, how you live is what you believe, everything else is just talk. If your opinion is stronger than your character, shut up, and let your character catch up to your rhetoric. Talk is cheap, growth is costly. Debating an article is easy, defeating your own self-destructing patterns is a war. Are you wasting time arguing with others when you should be working on yourself?
If you have a vision of what a good man should be, be one.
If you have a vision of what a good Dad should be, be one.
If you have a vision of what a loving husband should be, be one.
If you have a vision of what a hardworking man should be, be one.
If you have a vision of what a good friend should be, be one.
Silence the arguments of our culture with your life.
Be the Dad your kids need from you. The most important thing is not what the culture says about fathers, but about the kind of father you are.
The most important thing is not what the culture says a normal family is, it’s that you love and serve and sacrifice to make your family the thing God has called it to be.
Be the healthy male figure in your world.
Be the servant leader in your community.
Be the safe man women can trust without fear of coercion.
Be gentle in a world of aggression.
Be kind in a world or cruelty.
Be wise in a world of fools.
Be just in a world of tyrants.
Be disciplined in a culture of excess.
Be faithful in a world of compromise.
Be loving in world of hate.
Be hopeful in a time of despair
Be proactive in a world of passivity.
How you live is what you believe, everything else is just talk.
Your life is your argument about manhood.
Work on that.
Jesus didn’t spend much time arguing about what a messiah was, he just loved, sacrificed, taught, confronted and saved the world. He didn’t debate, he did.
He was one.
May God give you grace to be the man your world needs.
Cheers.
Jon.