Episode 77: What It Takes To Be A Man (Ephesians 4- 1 - 6)

In this Father's Day episode, Craig and I focus on Ephesians 4: 1-6 and his message for all of us to walk with humility, gentleness, patience and bearing with one another. I take these four points to focus on the redefinition of manhood, a subject we talked about before. We get our templates on what it is to be a man oftentimes from television and the movies – the Teflon man who is impervious to pain and who inflicts pain via justice. Think John Wayne and any action hero. That template gets in the way of our relationships with loved ones, children and our bond with friends. Paul gives us another template – the template Jesus has given us. Humility – the ability to admit weakness and the need to learn; Gentleness - letting go of our rigidity and having compassion for others; Patience – not dictating the “narrative” but listening and trusting that God will take care of things if you let him; and bearing with one another in love – a tricky one, but I interpret it as sacrificing for others – giving your time, helping someone through their suffering, truly bonding with someone, taking away their burden of loneliness and pain. If we are one with God, as Paul says in Ephesians 4:4-6, then we’ll move away from looking at others who are different from us as adversaries and truly be bretheren to each other.