The past few months have been pretty quiet around here. And recently, I shared some of the reasons why that has been the case. Sometimes, I just do not feel adequate to the job to which I have been called as a husband and as a father.

But in my weaknesses, God can and does display his strength. And so I cannot give up or despair. I fully believe that where he calls and leads, he equips with what is needed to follow. And I am also fully convinced that he has led me to build and maintain this resource for dads.

However, I think it is now time to expand it a bit. There is a multitude of material that I can continue to share about how to be the dad that God has called us to be. And I will continue to share it. Some of that will come from my reading and striving to be that dad. Other bits and pieces will come from my own experiences as I work hard to be that kind of dad consistently.

But I think it is time to broaden my focus a little more. I think it is time to expand Deliberate Dads to become Deliberate Men.

Dadhood is only one part of the role that you and I play in this life. God has created us to be something incredible, and that will manifest itself in more areas than just our fathering. It will need to be worked out in our marriages as well. And it will need to be worked out in the simple little things that make us men.

And so these three areas will become the focus of this resource: Deliberate Manhood, Godly Husbands, and Intentional Dads. Each of these three pieces come together to form the whole of who we are as men. There are more pieces to the puzzle, I’m sure, but these three are what I see as being the three key pieces.

Deliberate Manhood

As men, we live lives on display. We may not be in front of a lot of people, or we may stand before crowds daily. But one thing is certain, our wife looks to us, and our kids do too, to be the man that God has called us to be. And so we must live our lives as men of integrity, as men of honesty, and as men of conviction. A lot hangs in the balance, and we must lead our families well. But unless we are the best man that we can be, that will be a very difficult thing to do.

A key verse in this regard would be 1 Corinthians 16:13. Paul is wrapping up letter to the church in Corinth, and he drops this little nugget in there. And most of the time we miss it.

Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.

Godly Husbands

Outside of our relationship with our God, the relationship with our wife is the most important. She is our partner in this life, and as such, she must be a top priority. But what does that look like? How can we be the man she needs us to be, and not some deadbeat that never supports her, or an absentee husband, leaving her to carry the whole load alone. God has a lot to say about the kind of husband that we need to be. We need to step up and become more and more the husbands our wives need us to be.

In Ephesians 5:25, Paul exhorts husbands on how to love their wives. And it is no little task:

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her…

Intentional Dads

This area is what I have been focusing on here for the past few years. And while it is important, I don’t think it is the only aspect of who we are called to be. To be certain, it is a large part of it though. We have been given a trust by God. We have been given our kids, if only for a time. Our job is to equip them to become godly men and women in their own right, and lead them in the way that leads to life.

Again, in Ephesians 6:4, Paul gives us some incredible insight into this aspect of our lives:

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

In all three of these areas, God expects us to follow him, and to do so wholeheartedly. All three of these areas are critical parts of our lives. We are to be the best men, the best husbands, and the best fathers that we can be. And, with God’s strength, we are up to the task!

Be deliberate, men!

In which of these three areas are you the strongest? The weakest? What can you do to grow yourself in that area? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.