Richard E. Simmons posted an article on his blog last week entitled, “False Ideas about Masculinity.”
In the post, Simmons refers to a book by Jeffrey Marx and reminds us of how our culture will try to define our success as a man. From the school yard to the board room (or barn yard), as men (or boys growing into men), we are tempted to let society around us mold us into what it wants us to be.
Simmons notes:
Now I realize that we live in a culture in which men might not believe that “Christlikeness” is very manly. I know that for me, for many years, it did not have much appeal. In my mind, it means that I had to become more religious…that I had to withdraw from the world and go into hiding, which is not what I desired for my life. However, over the years, as I have studied the life of Christ, I have come to recognize that Jesus was not religious. In fact, the religious people in that culture had great contempt for Him. What I have learned is that Christlikeness is:
• To be transformed in our character,
• To grow in wisdom, and
• To love, have compassion, and foster high-quality relationships.Character, wisdom, and love make us the essence of what it means to be an authentic man. But how can I make them into realities in my life?
The answer is simple: You can’t, at least not with only your own strength and power.
Of course, the strength and power to do this comes from God. And this comes after we have been reconciled to Him through His Son, Jesus Christ.
This isn’t to say that “manly” things are bad, or that we must put them away, but it does mean that our identity isn’t found in these things, but in Christ.
And though Simmons is referring to masculinity, this same concept applies to women. In fact, I have had this same type of discussion a couple of times recently with two of my daughters. First, we must be rooted in Christ and then we are best prepared for what life will bring (good and bad).
Husband Father Son 