I am beginning to wonder if the original sin was not Adam and Eve eating from the tree, but Adam's passivity when she was deceived by the serpent. Clearly he was not functioning in his patriarchal role, because he did not love his wife enough to teach her and protect her (see Eph. 5:25-33). He passively stood there and watched as the serpent deceived his wife, and then he followed her mistaken lead into disobedience. The tragic thing is he knew the truth and did nothing!
The next thing Adam did was to hide. He hid the shame of his discovered nakedness by covering his manhood with a fig leaf. Then he hid from God in the bushes. He was afraid to face up to what he had done, and hid. Then, when God found him and confronted the rascal with what he had done he tried to blame Eve for his irresponsibility.
It seems to me that men who never fully answer the nagging doubts of their manhood may be doomed to repeat Adam’s failures time and again. Everywhere I go I see passive men, following their wives around, passively enduring. Ever see a passive man standing around with nothing to do? His hands automatically go to the “fig leaf” position, clasped together in front of his manhood. He is showing you he is hiding his masculine strength and he is resigned to passivity.
Some men hide their manhood in a number of ways. They obsessively pursue pseudo-masculine things like hunting, fishing, racing, sports, promiscuous sex, or overwork. They may dull the embarrassment with alcohol. They may mask their weakness with a phony super-macho persona. Whatever they do, they seek to feel masculine, driven to prove a manhood they know they do not have. Yet they are passive in their responsibility to God and their families. They stand by time and again and allow wife and children make choices that compromise their security and well being.
Others have simply given up ever being a man, and have resigned themselves to becoming a “really nice guy.” They’ve bought into the myth that masculine is unbecoming and the really nice is the way to go.
The only way to be a man is to aggressively pursue the responsibility of patriarchy given to us at creation. We must intentionally live into the image of God, the divine imprint deep within us. We must discover who we are in Christ, the identity and calling he has given us. Testosterone-fueled energies that lead many to irresponsible and self-defeating behaviors can be transformed when we accept our responsibility to follow Jesus.
“Take up your cross,” Jesus said, speaking of self-sacrifice and obedience to God, “and follow me.” Men cure the curse of passivity by accepting the responsibility and duty to be a man after the pattern of Jesus Christ, to love his family in the same manner as Christ loved the church, in sacrifice, devotion, nurture, providing, protecting, and teaching.
It’s easy to be passive and self-indulgent. It’s difficult to be a man, but it is the only way to overcome the curse of passivity. The good news is that because Jesus (the second Adam) overcame passivity and deliberately went to the cross to pay for the first Adam’s passivity, we have both the supernatural grace of God to help and the perfect example of Jesus to inspire. There is no excuse. Be a man! Break the curse of passivity.
The next thing Adam did was to hide. He hid the shame of his discovered nakedness by covering his manhood with a fig leaf. Then he hid from God in the bushes. He was afraid to face up to what he had done, and hid. Then, when God found him and confronted the rascal with what he had done he tried to blame Eve for his irresponsibility.
It seems to me that men who never fully answer the nagging doubts of their manhood may be doomed to repeat Adam’s failures time and again. Everywhere I go I see passive men, following their wives around, passively enduring. Ever see a passive man standing around with nothing to do? His hands automatically go to the “fig leaf” position, clasped together in front of his manhood. He is showing you he is hiding his masculine strength and he is resigned to passivity.
Some men hide their manhood in a number of ways. They obsessively pursue pseudo-masculine things like hunting, fishing, racing, sports, promiscuous sex, or overwork. They may dull the embarrassment with alcohol. They may mask their weakness with a phony super-macho persona. Whatever they do, they seek to feel masculine, driven to prove a manhood they know they do not have. Yet they are passive in their responsibility to God and their families. They stand by time and again and allow wife and children make choices that compromise their security and well being.
Others have simply given up ever being a man, and have resigned themselves to becoming a “really nice guy.” They’ve bought into the myth that masculine is unbecoming and the really nice is the way to go.
The only way to be a man is to aggressively pursue the responsibility of patriarchy given to us at creation. We must intentionally live into the image of God, the divine imprint deep within us. We must discover who we are in Christ, the identity and calling he has given us. Testosterone-fueled energies that lead many to irresponsible and self-defeating behaviors can be transformed when we accept our responsibility to follow Jesus.
“Take up your cross,” Jesus said, speaking of self-sacrifice and obedience to God, “and follow me.” Men cure the curse of passivity by accepting the responsibility and duty to be a man after the pattern of Jesus Christ, to love his family in the same manner as Christ loved the church, in sacrifice, devotion, nurture, providing, protecting, and teaching.
It’s easy to be passive and self-indulgent. It’s difficult to be a man, but it is the only way to overcome the curse of passivity. The good news is that because Jesus (the second Adam) overcame passivity and deliberately went to the cross to pay for the first Adam’s passivity, we have both the supernatural grace of God to help and the perfect example of Jesus to inspire. There is no excuse. Be a man! Break the curse of passivity.
In your article, you called men to imitate the masculinity of Christ. Unfortunately in the Church today, Christ Himself has been recast and redesigned as a passive & effeminate man. Is it any wonder then that His disciples replicate that same ungodly pattern?
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