Fathers of a Generation to Come

One of the most topical issues today is that of manhood, and what this entails for future generations. Amidst the many wrong examples that exist – the stuff upon which countless articles have been written – there still exists a definition for manhood and masculinity that exists in the mind of God that we should be pressing towards. Both biblically and historically, men have been known as leaders, providers and visionaries. Now, the baton has fallen to us to assess our journey towards attainment, and to conduct the evaluation from a very personal point-of-view.

God has always intended there to be a perfect standard of manhood that accurately expresses His character. Babylon’s attempt, on the other hand, has been to continuously distort this standard. We must realise that many of us may still have some of Babylon’s ideals residing in us and that these will prevent us from attaining. One element that needs to be instilled from youth is the necessity to be competent in every area of life. This may prove more difficult for single men as against those who are married, simply because, for the latter, there is a natural thrust to be more focused. Greater effort is required of a husband to be more courteous and open and to make provision for his family.

It is equally necessary, despite popular opinion, to develop these traits before marriage. To become real men means that we need to clothe ourselves with character, integrity, righteousness, purity and most importantly obedience to God in a very conscious and deliberate manner. As men of the kingdom we do love God and we can speak ‘the language’, but there is a requirement to be engaged in building values into our lives, if we are to think about taking care of a family in the future. Godly character is not merely an ingredient needed to gain the heart of a young woman but more importantly it is an ingredient necessary for the journey called life.

Another thing needed for correct fathering is understanding what it means to be a provider. One of the things that men as fathers give is vision. We are expected (in the mind of God) to be providers, and are engaged in providing vision (provision). In order to lead accurately, we must have learnt to submit (again, having built that component in before marriage) not only material and character needs, but our opinions as well. For example, general masculine thinking was always that if we earn $1,000.00 dollars less than our wives then we lose our rights to being the “man” of the house, and so we spend a lot of time thinking about earning large salaries before we even begin to “scout”. Now a large salary is certainly not a bad thing; in fact, one should always seek to advance economic status. But we must realise that we are secure in God and our manhood is intact, then those concerns disappear.

1 Corinthians 11:3 states: “But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.”

This scripture speaks volumes. It says that as men, we should allow every aspect of Christ to be rehearsed in our lives at all times and in all seasons. We must be convinced that when our hearts willingly submit firstly to God and we align our character to that of Christ’s then the issue of a woman willingly submitting will no longer be something to fight for. This will definitely not occur merely by a man saying, “Well I am the man so you must respect me,” since this is clear evidence that perhaps we are yet to submit to Christ ourselves. Headship is like gravity: from God the Father to His Son, to us, and then to our wives and families.

In these times, God is bringing the focus on personal development and internal quality in us that is of a royal standard. We need to be men of vision, insight and prophetic depth if we are to steward properly. Our personal desires should be to reach a level of maturity that will allow us to build whatever God gives us to build. If it is a family then the right mentality must be in us from now, or we will stay right where we are until it is. And once it is built, we will not be just husbands and fathers, but husbands and fathers that assist in the shaping of the destiny of the ones in our care.

N. C. Warren on "Finding Contentment", says this: "The richest and deepest contentment is a natural result of achieving authenticity - that is, knowing yourself intimately, appreciating your unique gifts and abilities and making choices moment by moment that demonstrate honour and respect for yourself." He merely reiterates Proverbs 16:3, which says, “Commit your works (responsibility to become men after God’s standard) to the Lord, and your thoughts (necessary mentalities and technology) will be established.”

A vast majority of us have grown up with the wrong examples of manhood portrayed by our own fathers. With all the wisdom that can be accessed in these times, we are in a privileged position to ensure that our children see what a real man is. With an accurate representation of God’s ideal of a man existing in the earth, can we imagine the lethal people that will exist in the Kingdom twenty five years from now? We need to be authentic, close off the wrong inflows or influences, and operate from elevated positions. The future generation needs fathers patterned after “Him”.