When I think about Christian manhood, I don’t think of viral clips or sharp-tongued debates. I think of my son.
When he was still in the womb, the Lord spoke three words to me about him. I wrote those words on wooden boards and hung them in his room. Soon after he was born, I anointed him with oil and prayed over him that he would grow into a gentle man — a man of peace.
And I see the Lord answering that prayer.
At 15, our son is already becoming who God said he would be: a helper, generous-spirited, thoughtful, spiritually sensitive, inquisitive, and collaborative. He studies the Word of God. He prays for himself and others. He confesses his sins and repents. He’s learning to be guided by the Spirit and to reflect the character of Christ in how he loves.
This hasn’t happened by accident. We’ve raised him with a curriculum of Scripture — Genesis, Deuteronomy, Judges, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezra, John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Revelation, and more. Our prayer has always been that he would be known by the Father’s love and easily identifiable as a follower of Christ.
That’s why I struggle when I see the cultural idolizing of public voices lifted up by many as paragons of Christian manhood — praised for their boldness and influence. I don’t deny their organizational success or ability to mobilize young people. But when I weigh their words and demeanor against the biblical standard of wisdom, I can’t reconcile the two.
James 3:17 tells us: “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.”
That’s why I struggle when I see the cultural idolizing of public voices lifted up by many as paragons of Christian manhood — praised for their boldness and influence.
Malaika on Mission
That is the template of Christian manhood. Wisdom that is pure, peaceable, gentle. Strength that is tender, not combative. Boldness that is merciful, not arrogant.
Our sons don’t need celebrities to model faith for them. They need men whose lives are marked by the wisdom from above. They need fathers and mothers who will plant them in the Word, water them in prayer, and train them to bear fruit in season and out of season.
My hope is not that my son will be known for his platform, but that he will be unmistakably known for his Savior. That when people see him, they see the Father’s love. That his gentleness, his peace, his mercy will point not to himself but to Christ who is alive in him.
That is what Christian manhood really looks like.