Masculinity

Masculinity. A word we don't often hear being mentioned much these days, I feel. Its a word that has been either forgotten and is slowly fading away from this world. New terms have been coined to replace this word such as, metrosexuals, heterosexuals and other terms as well.

Society tells us to strive to be anything but masculine. Why? Because of how some individuals have decided that being masculine is not enough anymore. The term masculine became boring to them and as such, needed some extra connotations to the term. Thus, you see masculinity being replaced with added connotations to it and inexplicably, new terms as well.

But the most worrying of all, is how masculinity is being ushered out by feminists. Yes, feminists. Those who sincerely believe that, men and women are equal. That, this world can get by without men. Such thinking, has only served to reduce masculinity in the society as a whole. I honestly believe that, men and women are never meant to be equal. Why? We have our own roles and responsibilities assigned to us by our Creator. We are COMPLEMENTS. We complement each other. As we read the Book of Genesis, we will know that Eve was created as a helper to Adam.
"The Lord God said, it is not good for the man to be alone, I will make a helper suitable for him"-Gen 2:18 And with that said, the story goes that Eve was made out from a rib from Adam's body.

But things get interesting, a serpent had told Eve that it was alright to eat from the tree that God had clearly commanded not to eat from. However, she did. Not only that, she offered to Adam as well and he ate from it. He followed Eve's instruction instead of God's. How interesting woman, even then, had already attempted to reverse the roles of Man and Woman. But my point here is this, that Adam did not take responsibility over Eve. Little known to him, had been ordained great responsibilities by God(one of those responsibilities was naming all the creatures that had roamed the land and this, is indeed a great responsibility as God has specifically given it to him to carry out)

And this, is what is happening today as well. We as men, are not taking responsibilities. Responsibilities that we should be glad to take on and carry out instead of leaving it to women to do so. I'm not saying that we should be dominant over women instead, we should stand out as leaders. Not to shrink from our God given roles but to embrace them tightly. Spiritual leadership comes into play as well. What the bible says about our roles as men to the women. The roles between men and women are increasingly being blurred or crossed over. As a Church, we should not allow the worldly view that it is alright for such roles to be reversed or played out by just one gender. Distinctions have to made and re-iterated.

Elisabeth Elliot defines masculinity as initiation and femininity as response. But she clearly says this," is that a woman cannot properly be the responder, unless the man is properly the initiator. He must take the lead in order that she may follow, as in a dance. The willingness of each to perform the "steps" that have been choreographed gives the other freedom"-Mark of a Man. See how important it is for a man to lead correctly?

At this point, I hope you(both man and woman reading this) reflect the roles you are currently playing. What changes can be made? How can I be a better initiator or a responder? Have I tried to play a role other than my own? Will I be able to stand up and be a leader or will I be able to let myself be led? There are many more questions but I pray, that more man and woman wake up to the idea of what the bible specifically says about our roles. Even if you are a pre-believer, such questions should still demand answers from you.

In His grip and fervour,

Mark Kesavan