How do you define masculinity?  What does it mean to be a man?

Matt Chandler, lead pastor of The Village Church, looks at the first three chapters of Genesis and contends that man is wired to be a builder, a cultivator, and achiever and that this distinctive role informs what it means to be husband and father.

Matt was the voice in my head as I ran this past week.  I have no hesitation in recommending these 3 talks: Defining Masculinity, Role of Man as Husband and Role of Man as Father.

Here are a few of my take-aways:

• God has given man the primary (not sole!) leadership role in the family
• Being there and taking initiative are key
• God is committed to who we are right now as men, not to some future version of who we ought to be
• Where our present situation and practice is less than God’s ideal, that is the place where God’s grace abounds