Manliness versus Maleness

Days like this - days where nothing in particular goes wrong or right according to the naked eye - cause me to grow weary in spirit. It's almost as if the lack of anything to do or anything being done causes me to wane more than an activity-filled day or a busy work schedule would. One of the things I regret not having is a job, but as I see it, jobs in Michigan are scarce in the first place, and I'm planning on going to college half way across the country in exactly one month. Plus, any additional income would counter my generous unemployment benefits.

I wish it weren't this way. Though I risk regressing with this statement, if I could go back in time I would change many things, and one of them would be that I would have gotten a civilian job that I could discipline my time and energy towards. Instead, I enlisted. Most people these days think that the U.S. military is an excellent environment for recruits to obtain discipline, motivation, and confidence. I don't know what it is now. With such low standards for new recruits and with the environment itself being a highly liberal and politically correct one, I am dubious of the likelihood of such things.

But I digress. While I regret not having things such as employment or social status, my mind keeps coming full circle back to a glaring question: What is important in a man's life? What makes a difference between the fake pretenders that are simply "male" and the men who are what God wants them to be? Though I don't claim to have the answer - yet - I believe there are two definite earmark qualities that differentiate true "men" from mere "males."

1) Internal character
Of course, Godly character is a main contrasting point among any human being, male or female, but there are key features that separate the legit from the fake. If the world looks on the outside to determine worth, and God instead looks upon the inside (the heart), then I submit that one key quality of a true "man" is what is on the inside. That is to say, qualities such as compassion, the ability to show unconditional love, and faith are more important than good looks, substantial wealth, or a smooth tongue.

2) Reactions
They say that actions speak louder than words. What speaks louder than a man's actions are his reactions, or the manner in which he immediately responds to the actions (or reactions) of others around him. Does he lose his temper, speak cruelly, and act on a whim, or does he remain calm under stress or abuse, guard his tongue from evil, and choose his actions carefully before execution?


My life has been a search for truth - a quest for something real, something quality. For the years where I operated in the world culture, I was told many lies about myself, and I believed many if not all of them. The people who told me these lies, though, not only showed no Godly character but had great pain and destruction in their lives - and had no way to properly deal with it. Most of these men medicated themselves with alcohol, drugs, adrenaline, or women, and when one or all of those things failed them, some went the ultimate distance and took their own lives.

For the longest time, I walked the middle road - eschewing everything I knew would destroy me, but at the same time failing to acknowledge the only resource I had for life. In order to fill the gaps between the anxiety and the pain, I medicated myself with other addictions - ones that sapped time and energy away from me and my family. It was not until much later that I began to focus my attention on the real Source of peace that I began to experience it.

For the longest time I quested to become a real man. I am still on this quest. The journey has been difficult and confusing, but my deepest desire is to one day be a whole person, a fully-developed Christian that knows healthy masculinity. Not only am I better than what the world tells me - I am all that Jesus Christ says I am - but the people in my life deserve much better than a fake.

Ask yourself an important question, whether you are male or female: Are you real or fake?

The time has come to break camp once more and continue to the sojourn. May the blessing of God be upon all who read these words and heed the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. Amen.