Would you believe that Paul told the Corinthian church to “act like men” (1 Cor. 16:13)? What does it mean to act like a man? That is a question boys are struggling with. They are given the misogynist on one end, the feminist on the other and all the confusion in between. How are boys expected to know what it means/looks like to be a man? Where are they going to get a clear picture? Put together all the movies, music, cartoons, social misconceptions of gender roles, male role models (good and bad), and negative press of sex scandals and school shootings. What kind of man would you piece together? If you try and define what it means to be a man without the Bible, you will fail every time. Men were made in the image of God. You cannot talk about being a man without talking about the One that made him.
In the Bible we can see that man was given the responsibility of provision from the beginning (Gen. 3:18-19). We see that principle carried over into the New Testament (1 Tim. 5:8). In the very beginning, God gave man a role to play. We can also see many examples of men. David was a man after God’s own heart. Today he might not be considered particularly manly because he played the harp and wrote poetry. However, we also see him as a warrior and a lover of God. It is the last that defined him the most. We see that also in the prophet Daniel. When he and his fellow Hebrew friends were taken captive, they were stripped of everything that society today says gives us an identity: name, language, culture, family and sex organs. However, they were unwavering in their devotion to God. Their identity was in God and their relation to Him.
There were deep-seated character traits that defined these men. These were the things that made them who they were: faith, obedience, courage, holiness, righteousness, justice, mercy, grace, hope and love. They were not men because of sports, facial hair, hobbies, work, guns, man caves or cars/trucks. Boys are lost in a sea of mixed signals and confusion because there is so much emphasis on the wrong things to define manhood. Paul mentored Timothy in his service to the Lord. We read on many occasions of Paul offering Timothy advice as he worked with the churches (2 Tim. 1:6-8; 2:1-13). I would encourage men to do the same. Instill in those around you the principles of being a man after God’s own heart. Do not be found guilty of promoting the same false and deceptive standards of manhood. Not all men like sports or guns, not all men can grow a beard, but all men can look like their Creator.
When Paul told Corinth to be like men he said, “Be on the alert, stand firm…be strong. Let all that you do be done in love” (1 Cor. 16:13-14). Let us go and do likewise.