A Definition of Manhood – Principle 2

From the Book ‘The Resolution for Men’ by Stephen and Alex Kendrick and Randy Alcorn – from Chapter 4, Be a Man of Responsibility.

A Man Speaks and Acts with Maturity

‘The Apostle Paul said, ‘When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child and reason like a child; when I became a man I did away with childish things’ (1 Corinthians 13:11). A vital transition takes place as a boy becomes a man. He must intentionally let go of childishness and foolishness.     

Clinging to childhood while growing into manhood is like trying to run in opposite directions at the same time. The ‘Peter Pan Syndrome’ is a modern term often used to describe immature men who refuse to grow up.

Because the teen years are often wasted and fathers have become silent, this generation of young men doesn’t know why they are here or what God has called them to become. So they wander into the future, drown themselves in entertainment and live for the weekend rather than for eternity. Rather than being responsible man of their word, they are non-committal and dependent upon their mothers. Rather than excelling and leading like previous generations, they are passively watching women their age surpass them in the classroom and in the marketplace. Rather than initiating serious conversations with wiser men, they goof off with fools in sports bars. Their identities are wrapped up in pleasing themselves and wasting their time, not bettering society and training up the next generation.

Too many men want the freedoms, rewards and privileges of manhood but only the responsibilities of boyhood. They want intimacy with their wives without loving them as God instructed. They want to be respected by their kids without investing time and discipline in them. They want a higher status at work without raising their own level of honor and integrity.

But if we want to be men, we must resolve that “we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching….Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ” (Ephesians 4:14-15 NLT). We will think the thoughts and speak the words of mature men, not teenage boys. As Paul challenged the early believers, “Do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature” (1 Corinthians 14:20 ESV).

Every man needs to identify and release any leftover childishness from his past. Childhood has come and gone. It’s time to repent of wanting to remain there, learn to act our age and move on to the greater, better and nobler things of men.  “The noble man makes noble plans and by noble deeds he stands” (Isaiah 32:8 NIV).’

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My Thoughts

Take the time needed to understand this passage. Read it as many times as necessary. Make the decision to become more mature regardless of your age and then take the steps necessary to accomplish this. More decisions will be required as you go through life to become the mature man you were created to be and make sure these are decisions that help you grow to be more like Christ.