Original Entry:
August 17, 2011
McMinnville, OR
The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter,
a man of the open country, while Jacob was a quiet man, staying among the
tents. Genesis 25:27
Seeking to obey
Jesus’ command to “love one another”
(John 13:34-35) I moved home, found
the first church I attended, and joined the first home group that was
available. I began rubbing shoulders
with men who were very similar to me and others that I would have never
associated with prior to Christ. As a young man I learned that men identify the
most with men who are the most like them.
I believe a man can
take on many shapes and sizes. He may be
macho or (as much as I hate to say this) he may be slightly effeminate. He may be an athlete or he may be a
geek. He may be into hunting and fishing
or he may be into music and singing. He may eat meat and he may be a
vegetarian, which is an old native word meaning, “Bad hunter”!
In Genesis 25:27 we read, “The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open
country; while Jacob was a quiet man, staying among the tents.”
We would all agree on who could take who in a fight, but God choose
Jacob to receive his blessing and not Esau.
As I wondered at this
it became clear that just as a man is not identified by his hobbies or his career
choices.
What you do man is
not who you are.
A carnivorous professional
football player is no more of a man then a vegetarian computer geek. Often, in
fact, he is less of a man!
What determines
manhood is simply found in the phrase “the
boys grew up.” What defines a man is not what he does, how he looks, or how
much money he makes, but that he has he transcended from boyhood to manhood.
In 1Corinthians 13:11 Paul wrote, “When I was a child, I talked like a child,
I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the
ways of childhood behind me.”
“The boys grew up”
when they learned to put away boyish behaviors and act, live, and speak like
men. Where do you need to do the same?
