Men of God Real men wax. Real men don't cry. Real men wear kilts. The only difference between men and boys is the size of their shoes and the price of their toys…so the sayings go anyway. I googled "real men…" today to get a brief idea of how men are portrayed in our culture only to find that the media is using our innate desire to be real men in order to steer us in the direction they desire. The relativistic mindset that society is cultivating today allows for considerable confusion among men as we are pointed in so many directions as we search for significance. This futile search leads us farther and farther away from manhood at its core, leaving us to wonder why our society does not seem to be fully functioning on so many levels. The problem is that the definition of a real man has been revised. A real man is defined by his role in the family. One trend evident among men these days is that they don't want to get married. One of the reasons is that, since they are visually stimulated and have strong sexual drives, our culture of instant gratification precludes the need to wait until marriage to act on these desires. Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free? When a man's desires, which should be satiated within the covenant of marriage, are fulfilled outside of that relationship, he loses the motivation to move towards a life long commitment with a woman that would ultimately create a family. With the understanding that the family is the foundation of society, the shortcomings of our culture and society are a direct result of the deconstruction of the institution of the family and this deconstruction is a result of men — namely Christian men — not knowing the magnitude of their calling to be the head of a family. Men desire respect, and naturally strive to be successful. The fact that we are career motivated, goal oriented, and task driven often leads us to the conclusion that we should focus directly on our career and let the wife take care of the family. This is where we go wrong. A man's ability to be successful in his career is in direct correlation to his ability to lead his family. If the value of family is depleting, so is the state of our society. We cannot adequately pursue our career goals without understanding that family life is a precursor to this. The foundation (the family) determines the structure of the building (society). The Bible points out that one can determine how successful a man will be in tending to his job by the way that he tends to his family (1 Timothy 3:4-5). Men, we must become educated on how to lead our families from a biblical standpoint. It is our responsibility and our calling to develop the foundation of society before we begin developing the framework. My experience at Focus on the Family Institute (FFI) has done exactly that and has taken my understanding of this calling further than my prior understanding allowed me to comprehend. Where are you in your understanding of this aspect of life? Can you adequately fulfill this calling with your current knowledge? Are you striving to be the real man God intended you to be? FFI has done more for me in this area than I could have ever done for myself. I strongly encourage you to look into FFI for this reason. I have been able to see God work through the desire of males to embrace their calling as men. It is amazing. Don't miss this incredible opportunity. Ryan Griffin - FFI Alum. - Spring 2006 Atlanta,GA

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