The Men We Need by Brant HansenSample

Keepers of the Garden

While this devotional explores Scriptures about how to be a man, it won’t give typical How to Be a Man advice. I’m not—how to say?—the most “manly” of all possible men.

Let’s put it this way: I don’t hunt. I play the accordion. I’m an avid indoorsman. I own puppets.

But you know what? As much as, say, climbing rocks is a fine sport, the world isn’t desperate for more people who can do that. It’s also true that the world’s deep need isn’t for more puppet-wielding accordion players. I’ve learned this repeatedly and emphatically.

Those things, cool as they are, aren’t at the heart of what people are yearning for from us. There’s something much deeper and much better.

For years, we’ve lacked a vision of manhood in our culture, and all of us—men, women, and children—are hurting because of it. The vision is this: We men are at our best when we are “keepers of the garden.”

This is the job Adam was given in Genesis 2:15. The Hebrew word translated “keep” here is shamar. It means “to guard,” “to protect,” and “to watch over.”

The garden of Eden was a place at peace. A place that was wildly beautiful and where things were made to grow. But it wasn’t a finished product. There was wonderful, life-giving work to do. So God gave Adam the job of looking after the garden. He was to guard it, tend it, and help it flourish.

I believe looking after our own “gardens” remains our masculine purpose, and we all implicitly know it. We men are at our best when we are protectors and defenders and cultivators. When we champion the weak and vulnerable. When we use whatever strength we have to safeguard the innocent and provide a place for people to thrive.

Masculinity is about taking responsibility. We naturally respect men who take responsibility for themselves. We have even more respect for those who go beyond themselves to their families. And we have immense respect for men who take responsibility for those outside their own homes.

We are “masculine” not to the extent that we body-build or achieve sexual conquests or fix stuff, but to the extent that we are faithful to the job of being humble, consistent, dedicated keepers of the garden.

What does the title “keeper of the garden” mean to you?