Using all the qualifiers in the world, in general, as a whole and across the spectrum, men have a gift of independence, a “sending” gift. They look outward. They initiate. Under sin, these traits can become either an alpha male individualism, if this capacity is turned into an idol, or dependence, if the calling is utterly rejected and the opposite embraced in rebellion. The first sin is hypermasculinity, while the second sin is a rejection of masculinity. (Hardcover, p. 180; paperback, p. 203)
REFUSING GOD’S GIFTS: 1. Rejecting God’s gift of gender can be done in many ways. There can be outright denial of the truth that God made human beings two binary genders. There can also be subcultures that exaggerate God’s good gift into hypermasculininty or hyperfemininity, which many people rightly feel to be like a straitjacket. All of these depart from God’s intention of making us “in his image” (Genesis 1:27), “like-opposite,” male and female persons. While sin has twisted and contaminated the content of what it means to live together as male and female people, we cannot walk away from being made in God’s image any more than we can decide to grow a third eye or sprout wings.
Reflection: Men, have you adopted an understanding of your biological sex and gender that is nonbiblical? In what ways? Women, have you been molded by the world’s expectations of behavior and thought, rather than God’s? In what ways?
Thought for prayer: Thank God for the freedom you have in the gospel not to be constrained by rigid gender stereotypes. But ask God to show you the particular ways in which he has called you to be a man or a woman.