When does a “boy” officially become a “man”? Is it when he’s old enough to drive, vote, drink, have sex, shave, get a job, move out the house, rent a car, etc.? This is a question that society (especially mainstream media) has used to misrepresent Biblical manhood to boys.
The truth of the matter is that if you don’t know who you are, then anyone can define you. So, good men want to know from Godly men, “What really makes a boy a man?” Check out their answers below:
- Being a “man” isn’t about size, height, or even facial hair. From a biblical worldview, what makes you a man is when you can do away with childish, boyish things. A boy and a man talk differently, think differently, and understand differently.
- 1 Corinthians 13:11 reads, “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.”
- Sirs, you cannot be a man until you put away the childish, petty issues in your life. It’s just that simple. I don’t care how many women you’ve slept with, how much money you make, how much swag is in your walk, or how much gab is in your talk. You CANNOT be a man doing the same things as a boy.
- You might ask, “So, what do boys do?” Boys say what’s on their minds (without thinking), play too much, use profanity, lie, cheat, steal, and neglect the simple responsibilities of life. Boys prove their masculinity through machismo behaviors. They are insecure, but act like they’re secure with themselves. Boys hate to listen to someone telling them what they ought to do and despise authority at all costs. Now, it might sound like I just described “grown men” in this 21st Century. Don’t be deceived! Whenever you hear a guy say, “I’m a grown %$# man” he’s usually a grown boy.
- When you’re a man everyone around you knows it, because you take responsibility for things that you didn’t necessarily do. A man takes the initiative from picking up a piece of paper on the ground to seeing after a widow in his neighborhood. He goes beyond the call of duty and doesn’t wait for life to happen to him; he makes life happen through him. Ultimately, a man is a male who gets his orders and commands from the Kingdom of Heaven; when you see him, you see HIM. A man doesn’t make up the rules, he obeys the commands of the Kingdom of God and carries them out in the earth, in his family, community, church, and beyond.
Gentleman, I pray you now know what it takes to go from the selfishness of boyhood into the selflessness of Manhood. May the Lord lead and guide you in your journey to greatness. The world needs “real” MEN.
