What is a man? A biblical man? Do you have to be a William Wallace or John Wayne or the gladiator Maximus? Is Homer Simpson more your goal? What does God expect of you to be a man, to “man up?” You better buy a chainsaw and start working on that epic beard.
The first step to being a man as God defines it is to be born again and know Christ. We are sinners, born in sin and choosing to sin. We rebel against God and we deserve His judgment and the punishment of death and hell. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit (John 3:1-8).” The good news is that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). Turn from your rebellion and sin and receive Christ as Lord and Savior today; this is the first step to being a man.
As a man of God, you are born again, in His image. He adopted you into His family as His child, and you grow in Christ. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” As you behold Him, see Him, and know Him, as you read your Bible, pray, and go to church, you are transformed. You mature and become like Him, your teacher; a disciple becomes like his teacher (Luke 6:40). Are you growing in Christ? Going to church? Reading your Bible? You can learn a lot about football, cars, or golf; how are you learning to be a man of God, a better man?
A man of God is the image of Jesus to His family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers. A man of God is not perfect but is growing in good character. A man of God is to be above reproach, a one-woman man, faithful to his wife. He is sober-minded and self-controlled, respectable, and hospitable. A man of God is not a drunkard and not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, and not a lover of money. Can he manage his own household well? Is he thought well of in the community; how is his reputation (1 Tim 3:1-7)? A man of God is growing in all these areas.
We’re not talking about “toxic masculinity” or “feminization of boys.” We are talking about biblical manhood and being a man of God. A man who serves and sacrifices, a man of strength, humility, and dependence on Him. A man who loves the Lord with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength, who loves his neighbor as himself, who follows hard after Jesus. This is what God is working in you to become a man after His own heart.