Christlikeness and manhood are synonymous.

God made man. God made man responsible for his Word in the garden. God made man a steward over His creation, including his wife. Man received God’s judgement in the Garden not because he ate, but because he valued the word of his wife more than the Word of God. Don’t misunderstand me to mean man is not to listen to his wife. On the contrary, God made woman with great insight as part of man’s protection. But God’s Word trumps all opinions. As a steward, man is responsible for a judicious management of God’s provisional, relational, physical, emotional and spiritual blessings.

Today is no different. Man is a steward of all God has given him. First is his relationship with God. This comes first. In recorded scripture man has heard from God in many ways. Of the ones we read about are an audible voice, angels, spirit to spirit, dreams and visions, reading of the Word, the teaching of the Word, prophecy, people and even circumstances. Today the most common challenge for man is a dedicated time for God. Man must allow adequate time to hear and commune with God. Only here can he understand the relational value he has to give to others. As God has loved us, men are to love others.

The next most important relationship to a man is his wife. When God created woman He brought her to the man and the scripture states “the two shall become one”. Man and woman, together in marriage reflect love, the nature of God. He is to steward this relationship as a gift from God. And it is important for a man to remember that she was and is God’s daughter before she became his wife. As a steward of the daughter  of God, man must focus on loving and caring for God’s gift because there will be an accountability for each man’s stewardship of God’s daughter.

Man’s next most important stewardship relationship is his children. He must model Christlike manhood before them. They will learn how to relate to their heavenly father by the loving fatherhood of their earthly father. Each son should want to grow up to be a man just like his dad, and each daughter should want to grow up and marry a man just like her dad. This is the fruit of fatherhood that brings joy to a man.

The biblical manhood models sees his relationships grow and expand to include his spiritual leaders, his spiritual friends, his church body, his workplace and of course his world. God has direction in His Word for man to follow concerning all these relationships. Man is to steward them all. In fact, all these relationships should see our Father when they see man as husband, father and friend. Christlikeness and manhood are synonymous. Jesus said, “If you have seen me you have seen the Father.” This is biblical manhood for each man. Let each man grow in God to the place they can say, “If you have seen me you have seen the Father.”