When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. ~1 Corinthians 13:11
I grew up gun-spoiled. I admit it. Dad was a high school teacher and coach most of his adult life, but loves to buy, trade, and sell guns as a hobby. When he bought a gun he really liked, it often ended up with his children or grandchildren before the temptation to trade it overwhelmed him. For example, Dad’s all-time favorite rifle is the pre-1964 Winchester Model 70, chambered in .270. Guess what Dad gifted my sons as their first hunting rifle?
His favorite shotgun is the Winchester Model 12 made produced from 1912-1964. Guess what I received as a college graduation gift? Did I mention that I’m gun-spoiled?
Shotguns shoot multiple bullets—called shot— with effective distances of no more than eighty yards. Generally speaking, hunters only shoot shotguns when pursuing game birds. To shoot a rifle at a game bird would be not only ludicrous and ineffective but also illegal! A bird hunter will use the shotgun every time, sending the shot in a spreading pattern.
Why?
Because game birds are usually flying! Some birds are faster than others, some fly higher than others, and some come at different angles than others. You never know where a game bird will come from, where it will go, the exact speed it will fly, or what distance away it will be. What you do know is that it will be moving, and moving fast.
It’s hard to hit a moving target.
Men today live under gray skies. Black and white have faded and men are confused about who they are and what a man is and does. Understanding manhood is like hitting a moving target. Here are several myths of manhood for you to navigate.
Myth #1: Manhood is not his job or title. What’s the first question after every introduction between men?
“What do you do?” But your career is not who you are. In the past one hundred years, we’ve moved from a traditional family structure to a more egalitarian model where spouses share the work and household loads. This confuses men, who for centuries identified who they were as men by what they did. In many households, not only does the wife work but is also the primary wage earner. Can you see how this impacts a man’s identity?
Myth #2: A man is not his social status or financial portfolio. The ability to make money and the ability to act as a man are different. We wrongly assume that the rich somehow have it together. Think about the twenty-two-year-old who is a multimillionaire simply because he can run fast, jump high, or throw a ball accurately. To think that young male is a man because he can afford an agent misunderstands what manhood really is.
Jesus wasn’t elevated in Scripture because of his financial portfolio. In fact, Jesus was homeless for at least three or four years of his life? He said of himself, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20).
Myth #3: A man is not his talents and abilities. Skill sets do not make the man. Decisions do. Actions do. It’s what we do with our talents and abilities that make men.
Myth #4: Manhood doesn’t happen at a certain age either. All that chronological age tells us is how long you’ve lived, and for many, it’s a testimony against their ability to transition into manhood. A man is as a man does. I am constantly redirecting forty, fifty, and sixty-year-olds who are males but not men. They are boys masquerading in a man’s body while masquerading behind their age.
Myth #5: Lastly, a man is not his anatomy. Just as reaching the age of pubic hair does not turn a male into a man neither does having a penis. Men aren’t born. Babies are born. Children are raised. But men, oh men, they’re forged in the fires of responsibility, compounded daily over time. A man is made. And after he’s been made, a man acts like a man.
It takes one to know one.
