What does a man do? It’s a question that neither men, nor woman can provide a solid answer to. It is a question worthy of the deepest of our reflections.
In fact it was the question posed by Gustavo (Gus) Fring to Walter White in the award winning series Breaking Bad.
Here’s how it went…
Gustavo: What does a man do Walter? A man provides for his family.
Walter: Silence
Gustavo: And a man, a man provides. And he does it even when he’s not appreciated, or respected, or even loved. He simply bears up and he does it. Because he’s a man.
What deep question. What a deep answer.
But as deep as it sounds, ‘what does a man do?’ is not the best question to ask. And “he provides” is at best only a partial answer. As evidenced by the fact the both Gus and Walter were murdering drug dealers because they believed they were being men. The better question to ask is ‘what is a man?’.
A man is called to be a King, Warrior, Mentor, and Friend. When a male thoroughly understands what he is, then what he does more readily falls into place. It’s difficult to get to the ideals of real manhood focusing solely on changing mere behavior. Getting males to become men requires a paradigm shift in whom, or what they believe they are.
When you come to grips with whom you are ask yourself…
- What does a king do? He provides as a Servant-King.
- What does a warrior do? He protects as a Tender Warrior.
- What does a mentor do? He teaches as a Wise Mentor.
- What does a friend do? He is a Faithful Friend.
Now as Gustavo said, “Get to work!” …on being a man.
Something to make you go…hmm! Have you ever wondered why men are always seeking connection? It’s because God said it’s not good for man to be alone (Gen 2:18)…so we know that men both need to be, and are in need of true friends.
The Hebrew word for Adam and “man” are the same. Want to understand God’s perspective on manhood, do a study on the forerunner of all men…Adam.