The Man the Moment DemandsIhe Atụ

GOD IS DOING A NEW THING

Prior to gaining a deeper awareness of who the Most High created me to be, I yielded to the culture’s distorted ideas of manhood instead of understanding the value of being a comprehensive man. First as a younger man and then as a husband, I allowed my self-perception to be shaped by culture.

During the 1980s, it seemed as if every boy in my community aspired to be the hypermasculine male or felt the pressure to assume that persona to be accepted. I adeptly played the role, but I was never truly a thug. I’ve since transformed that word into an acronym that accurately captures who I was at the time: a Traumatized Human Unable to Grieve. But this reality of repressed trauma explains the tense demeanor and the hair-trigger reactions we often witness among many of our brothers who still wear “thug” as a badge of honor.

Think about it. In the African American community, we don’t brag about living in a safe neighborhood; instead, we boast about growing up in a dangerous one. Many say proudly, “I almost got shot yesterday!” But no one can live a healthy life in that reality. The age-old adage “It takes a village to raise a child” holds true, but a traumatized village can’t raise little boys to become comprehensive men.

Here’s the good news, though: The script is not fixed—it can be amended. As God said through the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am doing a new thing!... Do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:19). We have the power to redefine manhood in a way that embraces emotions and authentic expression. We can create a world where young boys are free to grow into men without the burden of stifled emotions. A world where intergenerational healing, not intergenerational trauma, is passed down. But this shift requires courage—the courage to unlearn, to question, and to embrace change.

Men, it is time to eradicate the societal norms, cultural expectations, and stereotypes that confine and define us all within one rigid word—masculinity. It is time to live out the truth that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). God is doing a new thing!

What new thing do you long for God to do in your life today?