Men. We need you. I know, not everyone will tell you that. In fact, many in our culture have worked over the past several decades to try to prove that men are not needed.
But, those efforts have had disastrous effects. The lack of strong men in our culture is killing kids, breaking women, weakening churches and civic organizations, and is robbing our culture of much of the joy and vibrancy that men bring to the table.
I’m thankful for the women and girls in my life. The women who helped raise me, the women who serve alongside me, and the woman to whom I get to be married (thanks, Angela).
Calling men up and out is not denigrating to women. When I urge men to be more involved, I’m not suggesting women are doing a bad job. I’m calling you men out because it should not be the responsibility of the women in our life and culture do all the heavy lifting.
Men, we need you. We need you to be husbands and fathers. We need you to be firemen and entrepreneurs. We need you to coach little league and change diapers and cut trees. Men, we need you to invest in your kids and your community and your church.
Men, we need you to reject ideas that you are not important or that you are not needed. We need you to do hard things and take burden off of others.
When David was about to die, he called his son, Solomon to his side and said,
I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, and show yourself a man, and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn, 4that the Lord may establish his word that he spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’
1 Kings 2:2-4.
I do not expect to be going the way of all the earth anytime soon, but I do want to call all of you men up to “be strong, and show yourself a man, and keep the charge of the Lord your God.”
There is much work to do. Put your hand to the plow and come along side. We need you.
Photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash
