Where are the men?

Where are the men of today? We are selling ourselves short of our potential, and responsibility. The days of being worthy of being role models seem to be gone. It seems that the men children are looking up to are hardly worth looking up to. The pro athletes are committing adultery. The big men in business are stealing, and cheating people out of their money. it has gotten to the point where even some supposedly spiritual men are involved in some shady stuff. It seems there are not many honest men to be found in the generation we are in. The days of a handshake being worth more than a piece of paper no longer exist.
Tit 2:6-10 "Young men exhort to be sober minded. In all things showing yourself a pattern of good works, in doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech, that cannot be condemned, that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you. Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things, not answering again, not purloining, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.

I remember my parents, and grandparents stood for something. When I done something I was not supposed to do they would correct me. If it was not something worth a spanking they would tell me it was wrong, and made sure I understood why it was wrong. They took the time to teach me right from wrong, and not just tell me to stop. If it was something worth a spanking, they did not hesitate to wear me out. That is something that does not happen much anymore. Today it seems everybody is scared to discipline their children, and they don't seem to take time to raise their children.

Proverbs 13:24 " He that spares the rod hates his son, but he that loves him disciplines him." Proverbs 23:13-14 "Don't withhold correction from your child. Correction will save them from hell."
Proverbs 29:15 "The rod and correction give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother."
Proverbs 29:17 "Correct your son, and he will give you rest, and delight to your soul." Proverbs 22:6 "Train up your child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."
As I have gotten older I have realized in depth what this means. I know people that did not discipline their children when they where young, and now they are trouble. They have turned into the kids you don't want your children to associate with. These parents now wish they could fix things that they can no longer change. Now they are worried about the outcome, and have no influence on the child anymore.

It is also the mans place as a father to teach the children the ways, and the word of the Lord. Deu. 6:6-7 "These words shall be in your heart, and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you get up."

Deu. 32:46 "Set your hearts on all the words which I testify among you this day, which you shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law."
We are to lead our children spiritually. Our children are ALWAYS looking to us for guidance while they are with us. If our guidance is not worth looking up to, we are misleading our children. We may be what we are tyring to protect our children from.

I am seeing alot of families where the men are letting the women raise the children, almost by themselves. The men should not get so busy that they withdraw from their family. There are alot of men who are making their families go to church without them. All that is telling the children is that church is for women and children. We have to start setting an example by actions. I have always heard actions speak louder than words. We need to lead by example. The old saying "Do as I say ,not as I do." does not really stick very long. The image left in the mind of a child is the action of a parent, not the advising to do the opposite of what they have watched the parent do.

1 tim 5:8 " But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.
I am also seeing men who don't work. They are causing their wives to have to provide for the family. I am not talking about the families with both spouses working. I mean men are staying at home without a job. They are not even looking for work. I believe it is the mans place to take care of the house, but the woman's place to take care of the home. The man is supposed to be the bread winner. You are supposed to be the head of the house, and the family. If you are slacking as a man, your son is going to be a slacker, and your daughter is going to think she is supposed to provide for a slacker. It is said a girl is going to look for someone like their father, and a son is going to be like his father. If so I want to set a high standard for them to aim for. As a parent I want more for my children. I want better for my children. I want the BEST for my children.

1 corinth. 11:3 "The head of EVERY man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God." That puts you in charge under God. It is your responsibility to take care of the family.
Pro. 31:28 "...her husband calls her blessed ,and he praises her."
1 corinth. 7:3 "Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence..." We are not given a wife to abuse, or to take advantage of. you were given to each other.
1 corinth. 7:33 "He that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife." It is not only about the mans pleasure from the wife, but also the pleasing of the wife by the man.
Eph.5:25-33"Husbands love yourwives even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it.That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the waqshing of water by the word. That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love thier wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord the church. For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself, and the wife see that she reverence her husband."

With all this said, how can men act like pigs to their wives? How can we put our friends before our wives. How can we put off the things that would please our wives for the things that please our friend, or ourselves? We are only going to get out of the family what we put into it. Lets put our families first, and make a difference while we can. Lets start acting like the head we were meant to be. There will come a day when we will have to answer to our head, and only we have control of how that meeting will go. Lets start shaping that meeting today and MAN UP.


A concerned man
J.Loveless.