Understanding the Purpose and Power of Men

God’s Purpose fo r the Male

Real men are very careful about naming things, because they know the truth of this principle: what you name, you claim; and what you claim, you have the responsibility for.

Young men, don‘t be so quick to give your name away, because whomever you give your name to, you have to cherish and love; care for and secure; and protect and work for. Young women, the next time a man comes to you and wants to give you his name, see if you want to be claimed.

God wanted

the man to

be totally

responsible

for the

woman.

Check him out. Say, ―Can you sustain me? Can you supply what I need?‖ I‘m not referring to just money. I‘m talking about comfort, knowledge, intellectual stimulation, protec tion, securit y. Ask him, ―Can you provide these things for me?‖ Many men have money, but they don‘t have much sense. You don‘t want a rich fool. You want a real male -man. The male‘s assignment has revealed six specific purposes that God created the man to fulfill: visionary, leader, teacher, cultivator, provider, and protector. If every man could live out these six things, he would begin to realize his true purpose as a male. Any man who does not understand these ele ments will experience great frustration — which some of you are experiencing right now. To be a strong man means to discover, understand, and fulfill these basic aspects of pur pose. These areas are so crucial that we will look at them in more detail in later chapters. It is important to realize that although some of the tra ditional male roles reflect these purposes, much of the gender confusion and many of the other problems we‘re having in our societies have come from our interpretation of these roles. For example, as we saw, being a provider means supplying not only financial support but also emo tional and intellectual support. A man whose wife makes more money than he does but who is doing his utmost to work a job and to fulfill these needs can still be a good pro vider. We need to focus on God‘s purpose, rather than roles. Six Aspects of the Male’s Assignment

89