Proverbs 20:29
The glory of young men is their strength,
but the splendor of old men is their gray hair.
God made men to be strong and all men know it. No one needs to convince a man that it would be a glorious thing to be strong and mighty. Conversely, every man despises the idea of being considered weak. It is a man's glory to be strong. Strength is admired and desired. Men like competitions because they test strength. They are concrete ways to gauge who is stronger. You do not have to convince a man to want to win. Those who refuse to play often do so because of cowardice. They are afraid to lose, so they refuse to play. In other words, if they can't win, what's the point? This further confirms the reality they attempting to ignore: men were made to want to win. So much so, that when a man imagines he can't win, he pretends he never wanted to play in the first place. Or in worst case scenarios, he convinces himself that not playing was the actual test of strength... and he won that!
1 Peter 3:7
Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.
God did not only make men strong, He made them stronger than women. So men are not just strong inherently, they are also strong comparatively. They are not just strong in themselves, but strong next to their counterparts. God not only made men strong, He made them stronger.
God did not do this so that they could congratulate themselves for winning arm wrestling matches with the fairer sex. The boy who pats himself on the back for dominating a woman in a feat of strength should expect shade from other men, not accolades. To flex against the fairer sex is to be boring and redundant.
"Oh, you're stronger and you have the biceps to prove it? Asked and answered. Who didn't already know that, bruh? You haven't won anything, you've lost your mind. You will not be receiving a punch on your man card, but a punch to your thick skull."
Being strong means you can win the arm wrestling match, but it also means you don't imagine yourself strong only on the basis of winning arm wrestling matches with women.
So... what is strength for then? If it is a given and not something that needs to be proven in the context of relationships with the fairer sex, what is it given for?
It is for guiding, steering, directing, leading, driving toward an intended end provided by God, performed by the man.
If there is a tug of war over the steering wheel, the man can win. So in cars where the woman is driving, it is not because she overpowered him, but because he abdicated his power. This means the direction your family is going is your fault. She may be driving and steering it to places you don't want to go, but if she's driving, it's because you're weak. You could take the wheel back. You should take the wheel back. It is why you were given strength.
This, of course, assumes the responsibility of knowing that you need to be careful about where you steer. To revisit the initial point, the goal is not to grab the wheel away from your wife simply to show her that you can. Of course, you can. You're a man. God made you strong. You never needed to prove that. What you needed to prove was your willingness to choose a destination, your confidence in directing the course towards it and your patience in enduring the difficulties of going anywhere. The distance between where you are and where you'd like to go must be conquered and it will not go gentle into that dark night. Will you?
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