We live in a world where the only thing that matters is “Me.” Following up on my last blog post about Harrison Butker, I have read many posts that have demonized his words toward women about finding value in being a mother and homemaker. Both men and women are calling his words chauvinistic, arrogant, and toxic. Why? What is wrong with encouraging women to find value in being a mother and homemaker? To put it bluntly, it goes against the very current of society: living for self. “For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world” (1 John 2:16).
This has been the sin that has been destroying the world since the dawn of time. “If it doesn’t support me or get me further along, then it’s not worth my time or energy.” How selfish is that? My favorite part about all the people throwing a fit about Butker’s words is that they were all children at one point who had nothing and needed nurturing. If it were not for a mother or father or both, who sacrificed their time and energy to raise and nurture them, they wouldn’t be able to throw a fit and complain today. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of “parents” who suck at their job. They are absent-minded, never around, stuck in their phones rather than investing in their children’s lives, but again, that goes back to selfishness and a lack of character and discipline.
Selfishness breeds nothing but destruction and evil. “For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice” (James 3:16). A perfect example of this is the ideology of abortion. If it is inconvenient for me, then I’ll get rid of it” – disorder and evil practice. To those of you who want to argue that it’s just a clump of cells, all you are doing is trying to justify your evil and selfish actions. After all, the word “fetus” is Latin for “little one.” Moreover, if you want to argue that a fetus begins after the eighth week after fertilization, the heart begins beating five weeks after conception. That is just over a month after conception. Furthermore, with nine out of 10 abortions happening before week 12, it is still the murder of a “little one.”
As a husband and a father, my job is to provide for my family. It is to make sure that my wife and children are taken care of, have what they need, and are safe. That is my job. If my family were in danger, I would step in front of anything to shield them from the danger. It is the job of a man to lead and live selflessly. To watch over and protect those closest to him. This is what real men do. We invest, sacrifice, and work hard for those we love. I don’t care about making millions of dollars. I care about leaving a legacy within my family of honor, integrity, discipline, and Godliness. Nothing else is more important than that.
I believe that it is my responsibility as a man to provide for my family first. I believe that there is nothing more important than my wife being home with my children to invest in them and raise them up with Godly principles. When I am home, it is my job to be present with my wife and children, to invest in them, and to teach them Godly principles through word and deeds. This has nothing to do with chauvinism or toxic masculinity. It has everything to do with living selflessly and sacrificing for the good of my wife and children. That is what we are called to do.
Selfishness breeds evil. It is the original sin that severed our relationship with YHWH. When we think and believe that our way is better than God’s, we begin to live further and further away from the Light, and the farther away we get, the darker our world becomes. We then justify our actions, choices, and decisions to make ourselves feel good about what we do and who we are. In reality, there is a feeling inside, a whole, that never gets filled. This missing piece was destroyed the moment we started caring about our selfish desires rather than listening and following the voice of God.
A candle flicker can be seen from 1.6 miles away. This means there is always a tiny amount of light amid darkness. However, the farther we get from the light, the darker it gets. We were all made in the image of God. This means that there is light inside of us, but for that light to shine, we must stay near the Light. We create the darkness in our lives. The more selfish and prideful we become, the darker our lives become.
It is sad how selfish and prideful this world has become. Instead of celebrating and encouraging selflessness, we have a world pushing for self-seeking, self-serving, egocentric living. “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). When we care more about ourselves and not our neighbors, we build a society of hatred, dissension, arrogance, and pride. Moreover, as the Proverb states, pride comes before the fall.
It breaks my heart to see our society push to live a self-obsessed, greedy, and uncaring lifestyle. However, that is what you get when you have a Godless society. When you remove God and make yourself god, the only thing that is left is death, destruction, and chaos. I pray that God would reveal Himself to this generation and turn the heart of humanity back to Him!
Written by Dr. Kristopher Wallaert
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Christian Grandfather Magazine
Featured Image by Tân Nguyễn from Pixabay
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