In 14 years of marriage my wife has uttered the following phrase, usually preceded by a groan, a head shake, and an eye-roll: “you are such a man.” This is normally because I’ve refused to admit I’m lost, refused to admit I’m wrong, or she is picking up my sweat drenched clothes from whatever spot of the floor I decided to toss them. So yeah, basically when I’m stubborn or smelly! Conversely, I’ve uttered the phrase “grrrr, you are such a woman” more than once. This is typically precipitated by luggage (for example, our last trip to the States included six suitcases, one shared between our kids, 1/2 of one for me, and the rest for her. And she has zero shame about it!). The other major cause of my frustration is the sheer volume of beauty supplies she feels the need to keep in our bathroom (come to think of it, if it’s 95% occupied by one person’s stuff is it still really “our bathroom?” But I digress).
Now, these are admittedly silly examples. But, it brings up a point I want us to think about. Men and women are different! We were purposefully and carefully created that way by God. The fact that men and women are different has become so controversial in this age of gender neutrality, gender choice, and the like that I hesitate to write this post. Look, some of that I totally understand. I think many of our so called gender norms are silly human constructs that we can easily jettison. Women don’t need to be confined to the kitchen, and men don’t need an iron grip on the family finances (I cook 90% of the meals in our home and I don’t have a clue how much we have in our bank account). I have an incredibly empowered wife, and I am greatly blessed by it. But, I also accept that God does indeed form us differently:
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:26-27
Instead of ignoring our differences we need to embrace them, because that’s exactly why God made us different in the first place! Men, we need to embrace our role as husbands, loving our wives, supporting them in every way, praying for them, and making them better. We need to be father’s to our children, showing them love, rearing them in the faith, and preparing them to be disciples. We need to use our strengths, our leadership, our passions, and all that God has given us to be a blessing to God and others. We should never be ashamed of being a man, nor should we think that makes us inherently better than a woman (the same goes to any women who have snuck onto this site today). Instead, lets embrace who God has made it to be, and use every ounce of our gifts, talents, and personalities for God’s glory.
