gengwall

From a very young age, males seek order and hierarchy. We have a seemingly inherent need to know where we “fit in”. We operate well and usually comfortably in hierarchical environments. I don’t know why God made us this way, but it is how we are made. It isn’t surprising, then, that we seek to find an order or structure in all our interactions and endeavors. It’s our nature to do so.

Having said that, all that is natural is not necessarily godly. That nature is tainted by sin. To be true godly men, we need to seek not what feels easiest or best to us but what God desires of us. And in terms of His gifts and His Church, He desires that “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female.” I don’t know if females can appreciate how scary a concept that is for many men.

Have patience with us sisters. To resist imposing order on our world takes us way out of our comfort zone. To not know where we fit in the “pack” is confusing and, frankly, scary. Simply put, we don’t know what to do with ourselves if we don’t know who we are over and who we are under.

That is why many men revert to their nature. It makes sense to them. Understand what I’m saying. In this realm, the bible makes NO sense to a man’s natural way of doing things. But a good Christian man truly believes that the bible is a book that makes sense. So a paradox is created. And the only way to resolve that paradox is to manipulate the words until they do make sense. And so you get a man, truly good willed and seeking truth, but also truly convinced that the bible says what he says it says because that is the only way it makes sense TO HIM.