Boys to Men
What is it to be a man? At what point does he cease to be a boy and step into manhood? Does it happen in a moment, or does it happen overnight? Is a boy told one day he is a man or does he grow into it over time? Time — but how much time? Is it a set amount of time for everyone? That can not be so, for there are forty-year-old boys and fifteen-year-old men. Those who have ceased to put off adolescence and step into manhood, whatever that means. There must be a singular moment in time when a boy becomes a man, but what does that moment look like?
Is it when he gets his first chest hair, or when his voice drops low? Is it when he becomes a frame of muscle, or when he realizes girls aren’t as gross as he once thought? Is it when a boy moves out of his parent’s home? Not necessarily. Is it when he gets a job? Getting closer. Is it when he finds a girl to love and makes her his wife? That can’t be it as I know many men who have never married. There is something though at the core of a boy moving out, getting a job, and getting married which is the catalyst, the turning point where a boy becomes a man. The act of leaving the comfort of home, the comfort of provision, and entering into the burdensome life of men. Leaving, cleaving, taking a job, paying bills, becoming a man, it’s a burden — it’s a curse. Wait, what? How is this a curse?
Long ago, in days gone by, a man abandoned his duty and gave up his wife to be seduced, broken, and die, all the while placing the blame upon her as he stood by. I speak of the fall, the moment Adam and Eve gave themselves over to the temptation of the serpent, and paradise was lost.
“Cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” - Genesis 3:17-19
At the outset of creation, man was tasked to work and keep all God had formed, to work with joy, to care for his wife, to worship and obey the Lord in every aspect of life, and to enjoy paradise forever. However, the office of Man was shattered and replaced by one that was broken and cursed, one whose duty was to toil by the sweat of their brow, to provide, to be responsible for himself and the members of his house, and to answer to God for the state of it.
A boy steps into manhood the moment he accepts all the curse entails, beginning with the cause of it — his sin. It is an earth-shattering moment to become aware of one’s sin, of the monster one can be, and to recognize the imperfection that lies therein. The first step is recognizing he deserves to be cursed for his sin. What follows is stepping into the duty of fallen man, to accept the curse of toil, to work hard, to provide, to protect, and to be exhausted at the end of a hard day’s work. This acceptance of the curse was perfectly displayed in Christ, who bore its full burden as He embraced the cross and marched toward His brutal death for the sake of protecting the chosen from the bondage of sin and providing life everlasting through His atoning death.
Boys — let us put off childish excuses, sinful living, and selfish ways, and seek to be like Jesus. Rather, let us work hard, accept responsibility, love like Christ, and be men of the Kingdom.
