This is Part Four of a four part series called “When I Became A Man“.

There’s a way that a child acts.  There’s a way that a man acts.

When I became a man…

I gave up avoiding responsibility and started taking responsibility.

I gave up procrastination and started acting quickly.

I gave up passivity and acted aggressively.

I gave up just accepting responsibility and started taking responsibility.

I gave up cowardice and started acting courageously.

I gave up laziness, got a job, and starting working hard.

I gave up living with Mom & Dad, left, and got my own place.

I gave up giving up and started persevering to the end.

I gave up just criticizing problems and started contributing to solutions.

I gave up being a consumer and started becoming a producer.

I gave up making things worse and started making things better.

I gave up aimlessness and started going after a vision.

I gave up finding adventure in sports, entertainment, & video games and started living my life as an adventure.

I gave up watching and started participating.

I gave up living with Mom & Dad and left and pursued a wife.

I gave up waiting for a woman to pursue me and started pursuing a woman to be my wife.

I gave up dating and started looking for a wife.

I gave up taking from women and started giving to women.

I gave up having sex with women who weren’t my wife and got married.

I gave up disrespecting women and started opening doors for them.

I gave up using my strength to hurt women and started using my strength to help and protect.

I gave up porn and pursued a real relationship with a real woman.

I gave up treating women like sex objects and started treating them like sisters.

I gave up going to a woman to get strength and started going to a woman to give my strength.

I gave up worshipping women and started worshipping God.

I gave up selfish flirting and started selfless giving.

I gave up doing nothing about male violence towards women and started confronting other men and protecting women.

I gave up idleness and started fighting for causes bigger than myself.

I gave up selfishness and started saving my wife’s day.

I gave up playing house and made a home.

I gave up following my wife and started leading my wife.

I gave up watching other men pastor my wife and kids and I started pastoring my wife and kids.

I gave up hating my children and started disciplining them.

I gave up acting like a child and started acting like a man.

“Act like men.” 1 Cor 16:13

(Image Credit: The Field Museum Library)