A few days ago, I wrote a column about a trend among young men that indicates that they’re turning back to more traditional values. One of those values that men are embracing is faith.
I’ve been seeing that at church lately. Young men and teenage boys are visiting the church in droves, hungry for something authentic and encouraging. One 14-year-old, whose parents got out of the habit of coming to church during COVID, recently started asking his parents to bring him to church every Sunday and pick him up. I prayed in a group with him at a night of worship and prayer last Sunday night, and he’s earnestly seeking the Lord.
I have a friend who just turned 30, and I’ve been discipling and encouraging him since he was young. Another friend in his early 20s is trying to get back into spiritual disciplines, and I’ve been encouraging him as well.
A few days ago, I texted both of those guys a verse that spoke to me: “I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one” (1 John 2:14b, ESV).
Betterman’s Dr. Chris Harper points out how even our church culture has lost sight of what manhood is supposed to look like. This confusion has seeped in from the world at large, and it’s doing injustice to our boys and men.
John's vision for young men is crystal clear: strength, Scripture, and spiritual victory. What we've produced instead are safe, compliant boys. In an attempt to make boys holy, we've made them hollow. These hollow boys become chestless men; polite in public, passive in crisis, powerless in battle. We've confused humility with self-erasure, godliness with passivity, meekness with weakness. (emphasis in the original)
Harper adds that modern culture has killed youthful confidence, self-awareness, and what he calls “holy aggression.”
Related: No Brother Left Behind: Why Men Need Encouragement and Each Other
The Apostle Paul advised the men of the church in Corinth, “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love” (1 Corinthians 16:13-14, ESV). That kind of manhood is one in which a man aims his courage and strength to fight the right battles, is gentle and humble, and gears up for service and mission.
GotQuestions encapsulates Biblical manhood nicely:
The fundamental requirement for biblical manhood is a proper relationship with God (Micah 6:8). This informs and empowers every other responsibility a man has in his life. Humility means an acknowledgement of his imperfection (Romans 3:23), acceptance of Christ for salvation (2 Peter 3:9), and a continual sense of dependence on God (1 Peter 5:7; Hebrews 13:15). A godly man will study, learn, and understand the will of God (Matthew 6:33; Romans 12:2) through the Word of God (Hebrews 4:12). This gives him the tools to meet all of his other obligations; it does not automatically make his life biblically sound (1 Corinthians 3:2).
This is the kind of God-honoring manhood that our boys and young men need to see. It’s the kind of example that even older men like me can benefit from.
Harper writes:
The next generation doesn’t need more safe, hollow 'nice guys.' They need men with chests, men who carry Bibles in their hearts and steel in their spines. Men who are as gentle with the wounded as they are fierce with the wolf. Men who will stand in the gap, speak when it costs them, and fight for what is right.
If we do not fight for our boys, they will never learn to fight for themselves [or for anyone else]. But if we will train them, if we will point them to Christ, give them a mission worth dying for, and model courage under fire, we will raise up a generation of Davids who run toward giants.
The world doesn’t need one more polite, invisible man. The world needs dangerous men. Dangerous to the darkness, dangerous to lies, dangerous to hell itself.
I pray that we can stem this tide that our culture has set into motion. I pray that future generations of Christian men will follow a biblical example of manhood. Will you join me in that prayer?
Join the Fight for Biblical Manhood
Our culture is trying to hollow out boys and tame men into passivity, but I’m seeing signs of hope. Young men are showing up at church, hungry for truth, faith, and courage. This is a moment we can’t afford to waste.
If you want to be part of the movement to strengthen men, deepen faith, and push back against the lies our culture tells our boys, now is the time to join us.
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