Investing in Boys in a World Gone Mad
It was 9:15am and we were about to begin another grueling CrossFit workout. Nolan, a homeschooled eighth-grader and the youngest member of our morning workout crew, was moaning at the prospect of exerting so much energy on so little sleep.
“I was up so late! I just don’t know if I can do this,” he agonized.
I replied jokingly, “Were you up late doing some extra reading just for the sake of becoming a more excellent and informed person?”
He smiled. “I hate reading! Reading is the worst. I don’t think I’ve read a book since sixth grade.”
Knowing the critical impact that great books can make in a person’s life, I pushed back a little. “Well maybe you just haven’t found the right books yet.”
He replied, “Why do I have to read, anyway?”
And with this question I saw a teachable moment. After all, he needs to know the answer to that if he is to make the most of the knowledge and wisdom that are available to him through great books. Many activities compete for the attention of young people. If they don’t understand why something like reading is important, they aren’t likely to prioritize it, and when they are forced to read, they may look for shortcuts and complete their assignments with mediocrity rather than gaining the full benefits available to them. Without understanding the purpose or benefits of reading, they are likely to discontinue as soon as they no longer feel the threats of a teacher, parents, or a bad grade hanging over them.
“Well,” I said, “there’s the fact that reading great books can shape your values and priorities so that you’re better equipped to make good decisions that lead to thriving for you and those around you. Reading the right books will make you a better man, a better leader, a better husband, and a better citizen. You aren’t going to learn those things from the culture. Today’s movies, music, and tv shows will weaken you until you have nothing of value to offer a woman or a neighbor or your community. Our modern forms of entertainment are written with an agenda to spread values that are contrary to God’s values and contrary to the way He created reality. If you succumb to that garbage, you may be popular with your peers, but you won’t be successful in any sort of meaningful or ultimate way. You have to counter the constant lies with truth and goodness.
“Plus,” I added, “great books not only educate and inform; they also inspire and motivate us toward worthy goals. They point us toward all that is good, excellent, noble and praiseworthy.” (I had just read Philippians chapter 4 a few days earlier.)
“Daaang,” he said, in his yet-unrefined 13-year-old vocabulary. “Fine. What should I read?”
And with that question, I have now been invited into the world of a 13-year-old boy who will probably one day be a husband, a father, a neighbor, a voter, a friend, and therefore an influencer. I have the tremendous privilege of offering something that this boy can take with him in his future decisions and relationships. Through a couple of books, I can perhaps give him a role model for what to prioritize and how to treat others. I can give him a glimpse at goodness and righteousness. And I can give him my approval and encouragement as he invests himself in worthwhile endeavors.
Tragically, we live in a society today that says men are bad and masculinity is toxic. We live in a culture in which straight, white, Christian males are shamed, discriminated against, and cast aside. We are told to always believe women, even if the facts don’t support her claims. We are expected to judge people on the basis, not of their character, but of their skin color and gender. We live in a racist, sexist culture, and the unfortunate victims of the age are straight, white, Christian men.
One day very soon Nolan will be a man, and he will be expected to navigate a world in which he is deemed the oppressor, regardless of his behavior. He will be asked to express self-loathing for superficial characteristics beyond his control. He will be humiliated, manipulated, and controlled by those who seek to crush him and everything he values.
I cannot change Nolan’s culture, but I can play a part in equipping him to be a godly man in the midst of horribly unfair and difficult circumstances. I can help him to know that his identity is in Christ—that he is a son of the King, a soldier in the greatest army, and an heir to the very best riches imaginable through Christ who has secured Nolan’s glorious inheritance through his endurance of God’s wrath on the cross.
I can inspire Nolan to be good even when everyone around him says that it is good to be bad, weak, and lazy. I can play a part in equipping him to be the kind of man who pleases God, even as the masses around him yell, “There is no God. God is dead!” And I can do this in the simplest of ways, through recommending books, encouraging him with brief words of encouragement, and giving him nuggets of truth in the mundane activities of life, such as CrossFit.
Today’s boys face a harrowing future. If they embrace the truth of the Bible, there will be a price to pay. They will be considered as sheep to be slaughtered. We, the modern American culture, will slaughter them, and then we will look around and cry, “Where did all the good men go?”
We cannot change the world, but we can all encourage young men to become the people God desires them to be. We can all plant seeds of truth, wisdom, and goodness in boys whose futures will be difficult. Every decent society needs great men, and great men do not form on their own. They need others to lead them, to guide them, to invest in them. Yet in some small way or another, we can all invest in boys in this world gone mad. I can hardly think of a more worthwhile endeavor.
