The Gillette commercial on toxic masculinity has created a mini-controversy out there in Social Media world. Some people think it’s good to challenge men to call out sexism and bullying, others think it is unhelpful to stereotype all men as misogynistic and callous.
What is missing from the conversation by and large is any sort of practical model for positive masculinity.
To be clear, I believe that women are AWESOME, EQUAL and DIFFERENT.
Correspondingly, I believe that men are AWESOME, EQUAL and DIFFERENT.
But I do think that we will have to work harder to show our young men what positive masculinity looks like.
Men are not “women who shave”.
Nor are they “animals that walk upright”.
Men are strong, protective, sacrificing, need meeting, truth discovering, Gospel declaring, price paying, courtesy showing, vulnerable supporting HUMAN BEINGS created in the image and likeness of God.
Men are marvellous – and none more so than Jesus Christ the Son of Man, Son of God and Saviour of the world.
This controversy may have provided us with the opportunity to function in our culture as salt and light. Salt, in that we are saying something different. Light, in that we are saying something true and beautiful that leads to life.
Let’s not get sucked into an unhelpful over reaction.
Let’s not get sucked into another round of the culture wars.
Let’s respond by putting the spotlight on the person and work of Jesus Christ.
He is and will forever be the best a man can get.
Thanks be to God!
SDG
Pastor Paul Carter
To listen to Pastor Paul’s Into The Word devotional podcast on the TGC Canada website see here. You can also find it on iTunes.
