Daily devotion: Where are the men?
Where Are the Men?
As a child, I grew up in a traditional church setting. I had a real desire to attend church as a young boy, but as I grew older, I began to notice something troubling—there were very few men in the congregation. We had many devoted, lovely elderly ladies who were ever so faithful in the various ministries of the church, but I couldn’t help but wonder: Where were the men?
This concern deepened as I observed the few men who did attend. They were often introverted and did not provide the kind of masculine leadership that a young boy like myself needed to see and follow.
That was many years ago, and I am so thankful that here at CCSH, we are blessed with a good number of strong Christian male role models for our children to look up to.
Yet, the wider Body of Christ still has many men who are led instead of leading. Why is that? Something is deeply wrong when God’s order for spiritual leadership in the home is out of place.
Let me be clear: I am not advocating for dogmatic, dictatorial, or abusive authority by men. That is not biblical leadership. But Scripture does describe a divine order in the family:
Ephesians 5:21-33
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church…
For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her… In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies… each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
It is a sad state of affairs when a Christian man fails to fulfill his God-given responsibility: to lead, to protect, to love, and to be the spiritual vessel God designed him to be—both as an example and as a model in his family.
When a man steps away from the position God has called him to, it stunts his marriage, his family, and his own walk with the Lord.
It’s like a captain abandoning the wheel—his ship drifts off course, far from the route God intended.
In some homes, when the man is missing in action spiritually, even the children end up making decisions like which church the family should attend. Imagine letting your child decide what occupation you should have or where you should work! We would never consider that in everyday life—yet, in spiritual matters, some men surrender their role. And no wonder, when the storms of life come, these families find themselves shipwrecked.
Let us return to God’s design.
Let’s stick to His instructions, and then we will see His blessing flow instead of chaos and wreckage.