Our culture depends upon men not merely accepting our responsibilities in this world but embracing them. The stability of our families depends upon it too.

But this call to “Man-Up” is not simply a call to behave responsibly, it’s a battle cry that we should also understand and defend what makes us men and not deny it in the face of the secular culture that now questions the very idea of gender.

Men and women are wired differently, and the differences are wonderful. Instead of denying the differences, blurring the distinctions, or denigrating what makes a man a man and a woman a woman, we should celebrate the differences.

For instance, men are physically stronger than women. We have more testosterone and as a result are stronger and typically are more driven than women. How many times have we observed a young man entering the work force determined to conquer the world? And yes, we can be violent, but that same drive, and that part of our make-up that can turn us to violence, is also what empowers us to build skyscrapers and dams and protect women and children against evil and our nation in times of war.

It has been observed that while there are no female Mozarts there also aren’t any female Jack the Rippers. What makes us uniquely male, when untethered from our responsibilities as a man, can rip families and communities apart. But absent manly men, properly grounded, neither our families nor our society have a chance.

What then is a manly man? For me, it’s a man that is humble enough to embrace and love Jesus Christ. For me, this is where it starts.