When I saw this video, I was reminded of many of the boys that I worked with while teaching at Advent Home Learning Center. Our society is infiltrated with males who are wearing perpetual masks. These masks are the result of years, and even generations, of pain. Pain inflicted by the "men" in their lives: fathers, coaches, etc. For a long time society has had this idea that being a man means not letting one's emotions show. Boys are told "men don't cry", or "buck up, and be a man". To an extent, this perspective is still prevalent; However, in an attempt to counteract this mentality, secular psychologists and counselors have gone to the other extreme and produced a new type of male: one that is an emotional basket case.
In the book Education, one of my favorite authors has a very different perspective on what it means to be a man. She writes, "The greatest want of the world is the want of men—men who will not be bought or sold, men who in their inmost souls are true and honest, men who do not fear to call sin by its right name, men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole, men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall." (pg. 57) This perspective has less to do with whether man shows his emotions and more to do with having confidence in what is right and what is wrong, fulfilling duty, and standing firm for what is right. Michah 6:8 has a very similar definition of manhood: "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"
Today God is speaking to you. He commands to you to "be a man"! God needs a generation of men who will not be bought or sold, who will listen to their consciences and not cave under pressure, who will be just and defend those who are treated unjustly. He is looking for a generation of men who will walk humbly with their God. So, take off your mask, and be a man!
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