Earlier we said that a “Man” is responsible for taking care of himself, his family, his job duties, and his position in society in such a way as to please God. Also please remember earlier we read in Genesis 1:26-27, “Then God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So, God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” God obviously came before man and gave men a huge assignment and an even grander responsibility. Matthew 22:37 directs us to, “…. love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”. Matthew 6:33 states, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” And finally, Matthew 6:24 reminds us that, “No one can serve two masters.” Our faith and belief in God should always come first. But unfortunately, many men allow other human concerns to go before God. Surveys have found that God (religion) usually comes in third across all divisions of society. “The results were also skewed by age: Family first: Millennials (53 percent); Gen X-ers (61 percent); Baby Boomers (64 percent); Elders (76 percent). Being an American: Millennials (34 percent); Gen X-ers (37 percent); Baby Boomers (66 percent); Elders (80 percent). Religious faith: Millennials (28 percent); Gen X-ers (34 percent); Baby Boomers (45 percent); Elders (46 percent). The Barna Group surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults online from Feb. 3-11. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.” (Grossman, Religion News Service, 2015) We agreed earlier that to be a “Man” we had to be a Christian. And if we are truly Christian, we have to place God first in our lives. We also agreed that to be a “Man” and Christian that we would face many challenges and be tempted to give up. We have to place God first and be dedicated to our faith and beliefs.
From the very beginning, God wanted a man to be happy, successful, and to thrive. Genesis 2:18 states, “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Family is the foundation of all social groups from the tribes of the Serengeti to Any town USA. We should not underestimate the importance of family to support our emotional well being, personal growth, and learning to cope in society. Every person is dependent upon their family members from infancy to teach them how to communicate, interact with others, and how to solve everyday problems. A healthy family environment gives individual love, understanding, security, and helps develop an understanding of what life is all about. A healthy family is a permanent foundation that every person grows from and can depend upon during their life. Every healthy family is dependent upon having a strong person to direct the affairs of the family. This is where having a Biblical Man helps guarantee a successful family. A “Mans” responsibility never ends, but the satisfaction of seeing a healthy and happy family is worth the effort. A family that has a man living in the home enjoys many successes not found in single-parent homes. “Married couples have higher incomes and assets than singles. In 1992, for example, couples 51 to 61 had average individual wealth (assets) of $66,000, almost twice the level of divorced individuals ($34,000) or the never-married ($35,000) of the same age. Children of single-parent families (after adjusting for parents’ education, race, and place of residence) are twice as likely to drop out of school and two to three times as likely to live in poverty as children from two-parent families.” (Samuelson, 1996) “Roughly seven-in-ten adults (71%) say it is very important for a man to be able to support a family financially to be a good husband or partner. By comparison, 32% say it’s very important for a woman to do the same to be a good wife or partner, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.” (Stepler, 2017) The contribution that men make is much more than just financial. Men bring certain masculinity to the family, which is complementary to the female in the home. “Although generational hierarchies are the most obvious ones within families, other types of hierarchies exist as well. Sometimes they depend on gender. In patriarchal societies such as ours, men have traditionally had power over women, including within the family. Traditionally, fathers have been the providers and authority figures, but while they may be the final decision makers, they often have assumed only limited functions beyond that in the family. Mothers have been the caretakers, responsible for the emotional side of the family; they have kept the family together and functioning smoothly. What this means is that mothers and fathers are likely to hold different positions in the family hierarchy, that mothers take primary responsibility and that fathers may have only partial responsibility for day-to-day parental decisions.” (Life, 2015) Traditions have changed, attitudes toward marriage are different, and society has placed a lesser value on men. But the families that stay together have healthier children and better relationships between the parents. God’s plan is always better than any plan that we can create. “Young men and women, remember, it is people, not things, that are all-important. Character is the one thing we make in this world and take with us into the next. God’s purpose is to build people of character, not physical monuments to their material accumulations.” (Benson, 1974)