Why we need a MANifesto!

manifesto This post is directed to all the guys out there. Not that it isn’t for women, or that women won’t get anything out of this, but this will be directed and worded for us men.

Guys, we need a cause to rally around. In our world today finding a real cause can be hard to come by. In ‘yesteryear’ causes were a dime a dozen. As a man, your biggest cause was to get food on the table so your family wouldn’t starve. This drove men to do and attempt all sorts of things because the cause was so great. Today, in our world of convenience stores, microwaves, fast-food, and food stamps the fear that your family will die of starvation is all but eliminated. Often the biggest ‘fear’ when times are REALLY bad is…do we have to cut cable. I just don’t see that as a rallying cry!

Think back to all of the guy movies or books you’ve ever read. Each and everyone of them (including the Bible) has a point where someone lays out a clear and compelling reason WHY they need to do this or that, and ends with all the men around them either cheering, gritting their teeth, or growling in stone faced agreement. So, what is our cause today, what is the reason why we should become the men God created us to be?

As a father and a husband that answer to me is crystal clear. The Bible tells me that as the head of my home I am to be the provider, the protector, and the priest of my home. My job is to make sure that all of my wife and my girls needs are provided for, that they lack for nothing. It doesn’t mean that they have to wear designer clothes and eat filet mignon every meal, but it means they have all they need physically to become all God’s called them to be. As protector my role is to watch over them. Not just from outside attacks, but from internal bad decisions. My job is to be able to see, think, and process ahead and do all I can to protect them from others and from themselves. As their priest, I have the enormous obligation of making sure that my family knows God, loves God, and lives for God. As the priest of my home I will one day stand before God and give an account for them before the Father. No, the physical starvation of my family is not imminent, but I wonder how many of our families are starving for us?

Dad’s if you are not around, if you are not providing, protecting, and pastoring your home, your family may be starving in a deeper, more significant, and potentially more devastating way that will cost them the blessing of God and the joy of walking in his will. Men, take back the reigns, be a man, be a father, be a husband. It’s not too late. Today is your day to start living your MANifesto to become the man God has called you to be, so you can be the dad and the husband your family is desperate for you to become!