I am MAN

One of the most controversial topics anywhere today in Western society revolves around gender roles and gender identity, what those mean for the church, and what God really thinks about it all. Why is it that our homes are often in such turmoil? Shouldn’t our homes be places of refuge where it is acceptable (at least there) to believe how we want to? Shouldn’t our homes be a place of freedom, peace, retreat, safety and restoration? Why is it more often than not the only place we go (our homes) where very little is as it should be, and very little makes sense? What does God say about the family? About marriage? Husbands? Wives? Men? Women? Doesn’t God really have all the answers? Or is God behind the times and the last to get the memo on the new liberal agenda? Should we be suing God for damages and infliction of emotional distress, or should we be listening to him instead? It is clear with today’s social, economic, and political difficulties, as well as the explosion in the number of religious ideologies, that we are headed for, albeit already in the midst of, a global disaster. Liberal ideals and a reluctance to own up to our true origin has us all held spellbound as horror unfolds daily in the world around us. This goes especially for those of us who remember the last days of a world that made at least some sense, had at least an inkling of decency—until now. Gone it seems are the days when children obeyed their parents and some baseline sense of behavior, some maxims that most knew to exceed was to invite peril and great anger from their elders. Gone it seems are the days when it was okay to be a real man, one who was met with respect and honor in his own house, whose children obeyed him even if it included grumbling, and his wife could be counted on to back his authority over the family without question. Indeed, the saying “Because your father told you to” has become something of rarity. Daily battles of will proceed in the household as man struggles to exercise his God-given authority over the household while his wife often questions, challenges, nags, or openly disrespects and even insults him in front of strangers, family members, friends, and even their own children. For our nation to survive, and for the church to be restored to its New Testament functionality and greatness, the bricks of the church, the family, must be once again made of the proper elements. Indeed, ancient Egyptian bricks formed by Hebrews that we learn of in Exodus chapter 5 were made of mud and straw. The straw was for increased structural integrity and the ability to hold the mud captive. When either element was missing, the brick was weakened and threatened to crumble when placed under any load. Bricks made with only mud are weak, and bricks made of only straw are even weaker, but together, the two make one mixture that will withstand the test of time, create useful things, and protect people from the elements.