C. S. Lewis wrote that the disparate strands of manhood―fierceness and gentleness―can find healthy synthesis in the person of the knight and in the code of chivalry. Here these competing impulses―normally found in different individuals―find their union.¹
If one of these two characteristics are given full rein, the balance required for authentic masculinity would be lost. Strength and power, without tenderness, for example, give men the brute.
Tenderness and compassion without masculine firmness and aggressiveness produce men without the fire to lead or inspire others.
Though, keeping the right balance between their impulses toward power and aggression and the need to be gentle and tender is a challenge for most men.
Of course, everyone experiences difficulty balancing competing impulses, but men need a vision for masculinity that challenges and inspires if they are to embrace the call of true masculinity.
In an age of great spiritual and social confusion, such as ours, there is a desperate need for clear guidelines and models that can inspire men to seek after true masculinity as God defines it.
Masculinity implies:
- authority (a firm compassionate authority)
- action
- responsibility, and
- decisiveness.
It also implies:
- truth
- love
- strength
- tenderness
- firmness
- mercy,
- meekness and
- self-control.
It is this we find and more in perfect balance in Jesus. Jesus is the true model for all men to follow.
You may have heard it said that the secret to a fulfilling life is to find out what you can be passionate about, and then do that. I’ll be blunt about it here and say that, for Christian men, the call of Jesus to “follow me,” (See Matthew 4:-19) just as he did with Simon Peter and Andrew, at the Sea of Galilee is the secret to a passionate life−a satisfied and fulfilled life.
The disciples responded to the call of Jesus immediately and God used them all greatly with all their different skills and talents to fulfill His ministry.
The question is, what holds you back from doing the same?
When men find a journey that engages their imagination, fills them with wonder, demands their loyalty and valor, stirs their passion, and promises them romantic fulfillment, it can become a consuming fire, but all for what?
God-inspired passion overcomes all and sends you on a path, a journey on which you cannot know the destination.
Is the call of Jesus to you, to join Him in the grand quest? You cannot stay neutral or retreat. You must advance toward the life that He has designed for you. In the strength of the Holy Spirit, you must commit to the unknown; to authenticity, simplicity, fellowship, resilience, and valor that God leads you in.
Live in true masculinity daily as God leads and you abide, rest, and trust in Him in the most God honoring ways. For this is the life you desire for yourself.
The men who search for true masculinity need only to look to the pages of God's Word, for there they will find the truth about themselves from their great Creator.
Do not be entertained by the whims of this world (men), but let your minds be trained by the Word of God. So as you go out to complete the call on your life which God has set before you, remember who you are in Christ. You have passion, strength, power and truth, but do not forget to cultivate mercy, meekness, and self-control.
Christ demonstrated this in His own life and He alone is the standard of true and lasting masculinity.
[1] C.S. Lewis, “Necessity of Chivalry,” Present Concerns (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1986), pp. 11-16
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