In a culture that perhaps doesn't understand true masculinity, what can we do to help the boys in our homes be manly, but in the right way? Obviously it's easy to have a wrong view of man, the world's view of man, and there are many options there. You can have the rude, crude man that doesn't care about anybody but himself. You can have kind of a man that is a bit cowardly and maybe what the world would call effeminized. I don't think that's probably the best way to say it, but you know you have all these different options in front of you.
How are we to be careful in a culture that is misunderstood gender and gender roles to help our children to know the truth and I think that the answer is not very complicated. The ultimate picture of masculinity is Christ. He is the man, He's the man's man. It's not John the Baptist, it's not Elijah or Paul, it's Christ. It's definitely not John Wayne or whoever, you know, in your generation is the manly man.
We want our young people to see that we are impressed with Christ. So if you want your boys to know what true masculinity is, let them see it in their dad, that their dad is a follower of Christ, that He is impressed with Christ, not just religious, that the God-man is His ultimate man. And then as they grow, we have so many thousands of opportunities, you know, throughout life with all of its bumps and scrapes, to say to them, this is how you acted, here's how Christ acts, this is what you chose, here's how Christ chose, and to show them that this is the, You know, the great path.