Conqueror: God made men to conquer the world for His glory and the good of the world. When men fall short of the glory of God, they do not cease to attempt to conquer. They use strength for evil ends or use evil methods and shortcuts when trying to aim at noble ends. By God's grace, He has given us the Spirit of His Son, Who is a conqueror and gives us ability to even now conquer our demons and join His mission to conquer the world for His glory
Cultivator: God made men to cultivate the world for His glory and make things better, more productive, more fruitful. Men tend to be better, by default, at conquering things like challenges, women, jobs, problems, etc... but once they've conquered them, they don't know what to do with them. A man gets the girl, gets the job, gets the status, the money, the authority, the power, the car he always wanted and then it falls apart under his ownership. By God's grace, He makes all things new and the Gospel is one of productivity, 30, 60, 100 fold.
Savior: God made men to save others for God's glory by dying to themselves. When men seek to save their own lives, they lose them. But when they seek to lose their life for Jesus' sake, they find them. God gave men strength on loan in order to use it for the protection of others. Men will be strong. The question is will they use their strength for good or for evil? The world needs more good, strong men, because it will always have bad, strong men. Men gravitate towards strength and power and will associate with bad men if they are strong. That is why the call of the day is for good men to be strong. We need more good men who are good at being men.
Sage: God made men to teach and train others for God's glory and their good. (Ezra 7:10) When men spend their attentions on becoming wise in the ways of the world, they use their God-given creativity and obligation to protect information and wisdom to take advantage of others, scam them, play them, manipulate them, etc... But when men commit to knowing God, studying His Word and disciplining themselves through constant training, they learn to discern between good and evil and how to instruct others. The book of Proverbs is written as a Father to a Son, passing down wisdom in order to protect him. A man should have answers and should safeguard wisdom by meditation and the hard work of mental labor. We need to redeem study as a masculine discipline and not an effeminate avoidance of hard work and getting your hands dirty. There is a manly way to devote oneself to study, thinking, wisdom and counsel.
Glory-bearer: God made men in particular to bear His glory (1 Cor 11). Men were made to be Fathers and Sons. God introduces Himself to us as a Father and sends His one and only Son to us as our Lord and Savior. The Godhead introduces itself to us in terms of masculinity. Jesus instructed us to pray to God our Father. We baptize people in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Evidence of the Spirit's work in our lives is that we cry out, "Abba, Father" As men, we are called to embody, to the best of our abilities, the glory of God as a Father, as a Son, as a Brother. Every father on earth gets his name and authority from God, the Father (Eph 3:14)
No comments:
Post a Comment