I HAVE SAID THUS FAR “MANLY MEN DO MANLY THINGS.” I have said, “Manly men tend their fields.” I have also said, “Manly men make manly men.”
These are all true and they are all essential to genuine manhood. They are not possible, though, without our final maxim. It is this: “Manly men live to the glory of God.”
I believe that a man’s purpose in this world is so unique, that it is meant to be one of such service and sacrifice, that he cannot fulfill his role successfully without doing so to the glory of God. There are many reasons for this.
First, a man cannot fulfill his purpose if he is living for applause, approval, and affirmation in this world. It simply will not come—not enough, certainly, to answer the needs of his soul.
If a man lives for the glory of God, he stops looking for affirmation from other human beings after every good deed, a pat on the head every time he does his duty. Instead, he throws himself into his role unselfishly. He contents himself with knowing he is fulfilling his purpose in this world and pleasing the God who made him. His reward comes when he is able to say, as we heard the Scottish Olympian and missionary Eric Liddell say in Chariots of Fire, “When I run, I feel his pleasure.”
Second, a man is meant to carry such responsibility that he will descend into exhaustion and resentment if he does not have the inner resources that come from living in connection with God. This is much the same for women, but that is the subject for another book by another author. The issue for men is, as much as they might try, they cannot do what they are assigned to do without strength and energy beyond their own. This comes from being men to the glory of God.
Third, men are meant to tend the lives of others in such a way that they must have insight that comes from beyond them. I’ve often suspected that my wife, a woman of great wisdom, simply has a resident gift. In other words, her insight and understanding live in her permanently, it seems. She’s always wise and always aware of what to do. She’s usually right. I’m not as gifted. I have to ask God constantly for understanding and insight that do not live in me day to day. In my life, this comes from living to the glory of God.
Finally, what I am saying of manly men is only what is true for all of life. Human beings are made by God and are made to live in relationship with God. It is the only way we will ever be whole or fulfilled or empowered or effective. It is also the only way we can be the unique creatures we are called to be. I am a husband, a father, a teacher, a writer, a leader, and an entrepreneur. Each of these roles has its source and its fuel in God. He is all these things and millions of others besides. Stephen Mansfield cannot be what he is made to be on his own. Everything he is designed for draws power in the most immediate and personal sense from God. This isn’t just true of me or of men. It is true of all of creation.
Someone will inevitably ask me if I’m saying that a man who doesn’t believe in God cannot be a good man. No, that’s not what I’m saying—although the problem is defining the word good.
I strive to be a good man as I see good man described in Scripture and in the example of Jesus Christ, whom I believe to be the perfect man, the model for all men.
I have friends, though, who believe they are good men and good husbands because they have large muscles and keep their wives amply supplied with expensive clothes and vacations. I have friends who believe they are good because their wives are “allowed” to work outside the home. I have friends who believe they are good because they do not beat their wives as their fathers did. I have friends who believe they are good because they feel deep affection for their wives and spend quality time with them every day. I know one man who thinks he is a good man because he lets his wife take other men for lovers.
Each of these men thinks himself good by some definition. Each has a system of belief that defines for him what it means to be a man. You see the problem? What definition of good and of manhood should we live by? I believe it ought to be God’s definition as found in Scripture and the teachings of Jesus. I’m not smart enough to craft a definition of my own. Some of my friends have crafted their own definitions, as you can see, but what they’ve come up with looks like folly to me.
I keep it simple. I can’t live up to God’s standards without God’s resources. I become the man I am made to be by living to the glory of God.
This gives us Mansfield’s Manly Maxim #4: Manly men live to the glory of God.