Lessons from the Garden
Manhood. What comes to mind? Dirt. The Outdoors. Guns. Muscles. Chris Hemsworth. Buffalo Wild Wings. Lifting heavy things. Sports. Building stuff. Cars. The list could go on. Not bad things, however these are just some of the external things associated with manhood. To take a deeper look into manhood we need to take a deeper look into the Bible. The Bible transcends culture by drilling down through all of these culturally constructed definitions of what a “man” really is and gets to its core.
The Garden is the where it all began and it’s fitting that we would look there first to get a glimpse of how God made men and therefore how he made fathers. Here are 3 words that describe manhood from the Garden. Fathers…
1. CULTIVATE.
“The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it…” (Gen 2:15)
Adam was placed in the Garden to work and keep it. It was his responsibility to spend time working the soil, and preparing the ground to bring forth fruit, life and growth. All men are cultivators. Because of the Fall this means that in our families we can be cultivators of life or death. Azariah was just learning to potty train. It was late in the night and I was trying to get him to pee on our little green frog potty so that we could all go to bed (a.k.a so I could go to bed). I was tired, frustrated and had zero patience. I brought all of these things into the situation. You can probably see where this is going because what Azariah needed was for his dad to be patient and gentle, helping him overcome some reservation about using this new contraption. Needless to say, things began to escalate and when Azariah started to get off the potty I resorted to the use of force by pinning him to the potty thinking surely this would make him pee (from sheer terror!). He came unglued and I saw in his eyes pure fear because of my anger and frustration. I tell this story to illustrate that in that moment what I cultivated was not life, Jesus, patience, and love but my own sin, frustration and anger. We have a choice what kind of fruit we cultivate in our families. Are we preparing the soil of our families to bring forth life or death? One of the two will grow.
2. PROTECT.
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God actually say…’ she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband.” (Gen 3:6).
Adam was supposed to protect the garden. We know this based on the facts that there was an Enemy and that God holds Adam accountable for Eve falling for the deception of the Serpent. It was at this moment that one of greatest sins men would struggle with entered the picture through Adam: passivity. The sin of omission. Standing by and NOT doing something. Men are called to protect. They represent the jealousness of God for his Bride. Fathers have been given the responsibility to be jealous, gate-keepers for their families. Although it’s true we protect our families physically from danger, more importantly we protect our families spiritually always monitoring the spiritual health of our wives and children. We are shepherds protecting our kids from the wolves of culture, sin and Satan. We do this by keeping Christ lifted high in our homes, making him the focus. We do this through steadfast, fervent prayer. We do this through the weapon of love. If I had time I could share some moments the Holy Spirit prompted me very directly to pray for spiritual protection over our house and kids.
3. MULTIPLY.
“And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion…” (Gen 1:28)
Don’t get too excited! This doesn’t just mean make babies. This means that our energy as men is spent on multiplying life in every aspect of our lives. The idea of multiplication is continued in the New Testament through the word stewardship. We are stewards, entrusted with wealth expected to multiply what our Master has given us upon his arrival (or return). Having a multiplication mentality towards our families means that we are actively thinking how we can foster growth. Through night-time routines, eating dinner around a table, family Bible study/prayer, intentional one-on-one time with our children to see how they’re doing, these are all examples of multiplying life.
There is so much more on the subject of manhood in the Bible but for now this will wet our appetites. For a great read on manhood check out “Play the Man” by Mark Batterson! This wraps up our series on Leading Your Home. Leave some feedback through comments or email on what you thought or new topics to discuss!