Truthfully this something that has been on my mind and my heart for a little over a month. I have thought how I can share my thoughts and the beautiful things that I believe God has been revealing to me about this, and so I am just going to share. My prayer is that God would speak to you personally through the Holy Spirit to your heart as you read this.
At the beginning of month three on Nicaragua all of the guys got together for a men’s time activity. Truth be told I highly disliked the fact we had to have a scheduled guy time activity but none the less I showed up just expecting to be quiet and letting everyone else share or talk and I just listen. But then we were posed a question “what does it mean to be a man”. Oh boy I thought, here we go again sitting through another discussion about this. Except this time we had t answer that based on men found on scripture that were used by God. I immediately I felt the Lord impress David on my heart.
You see David was a man after God’s own heart. Yes he fell short and sinned, but he walked close with the Lord and knew his heart. David was not afraid to live vulnerable, he was not afraid to express his emotions and live out humility in the Lord. He was not the strongest physically, he was often overlooked and always chosen last. But when he was anointed God spoke and said that he basically knew his heart and the heart of all men, whereas we notice the outward appearance. This was exactly everything I spoke out loud to the guys was with. First of all I had no intentions in speaking, let alone being the first guy to speak, but God had other plans and through this speaking and showing what he Revealed to me, I started to have this opening in my heart.
After I spoke, our host Scott mentioned Daniel. Daniel was a man who also knew the heart of God. He was firm in his convictions of truth, walked with integrity, lived humbly, honored the Lord with his life, and used the way he was made and gifted to point a nation of gentiles to the Lord and who he is.
At this point it hit me. I felt as though the Lord really spoke to the essence of who I am. I was in a way like these men. You see most people define a man as someone who is strong, provides, protects, does all the manual labor, refuses to express emption or talk about feelings, compartmentalizes and is a tough Ass. Some of those things are part of what a man is, but it is not all of who a man is. It seems as though the world labels all men as this and when most men do not fit this definition then they are not a real man. The truth is that is just one type of man not man as a whole.
According to scripture and the Lord, a man is defined as someone who is after his own heart, has the character of Christ, walks with integrity, does justice, loves mercy and walks humbly with the Lord. A man is a leader who leads others in truth and love, is real and lives out of that realness and is ok with showing emotion and what is going on in their lives.
And that is what makes me and every man a man. Though I do not actually live like this all the time, that is part of why it is important to remain in Christ and let the Holy Spirit Constantly renew me and transform me. Forgive me for the word that is about to be typed but it is complete and utter bullshit that men have to live under the label of one type of man. You see there are some guys who are that type of man and there is nothing wrong with That so as long as who they truly are as a man is defined by how God defines what a man is.
You can be the man who is ok expressing their emotions and is creative and artistic. You can be the man who honors the Lord and serves him and is strong and enjoys doing manual labor. You can be the man who is tough as a means to protect the ones he loves and cares for the way God the Father loves and protects us as his children.
I am a man damn it and I enjoy and love how the Lord designed me the way he did all for his Glory. Everyman should know that they matter and are more than what the world tells them a man should be. Every man should be 100% who they are in Christ without having to compromise that.
