Mild Men

‘So the boys grew. And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field;

but Jacob was a mild man, dwelling in tents.’

Genesis 25:27

If you look closely at this verse, you’ll see the spectrum of mankind. There are men like Esau who are skillful hunters, men of the field who tend to be loud, aggressive and quick tempered and on the opposite end, men like Jacob; mild, gentle and easy-going.’ And then there’s some in between.

Jacob dwelt ‘in tents’ which means his skills, what he liked to do, and what he was created to do was on the INSIDE while Esau his brother, was a hunter. Enjoying the great outdoors; fishing, building, sports and the like.Thus there are men some who enjoy watching HGTV® and others who are live for the DIY®.

‘Now Jacob cooked a stew…’ (Genesis 25:29) which means men can and are supposed to cook. Remember the Lord Jesus made the disciples Barbequed Fish in John 21:9. Perhaps Jacob was a chef, caterer, baker or restaurateur; but whatever the case, according to scripture, cooking is manly.

But let me get quickly to the point. People typically think that if a man likes to cook and is mild tempered that he’s gay; but that’s not always the case. Often, because some were born with attributes like Jacob, they interpret it to mean they were ‘born gay.’ No, they were just ‘born’ with mild characteristics because God created them that way. They were born friendly and easy going. Their nature is not like Esau; they don’t enjoy hunting, killing, and fighting. But because of ignorance, some mistook their gentleness for femininity and over time transposed their mild temperament into a sexual attraction for men.

Am I saying this is what happened to all gay men? Absolutely not! But it certainly may be true for some. I’m not here to debate, I’m simply sharing that because of our ignorance, many mild men went into the gay lifestyle because of our preconceived ideas of manhood. If we would just be aware of what the scripture teaches, then we wouldn’t be so quick to excuse a friendly man as gay and neither would he think that because he likes to cook that he has to put his ‘hand on his hip and let his backbone slip.’ Just because Jacob didn’t like the heat of the outdoors, didn’t make him any less of a man. In fact, he went on to have twelve sons, the 12 tribes of Israel, who would be used to change the known world.

You may know someone or may yourself have thought you were gay because you were born mild. Perhaps you’ve lived as a gay man but now realize that’s not who you are and you’re right man of God. You weren’t born gay; you were born mild. God needed you to enjoy cooking so that you can spend time with your wife preparing meals for your family. You had to be friendly because of the five star restaurants and cooking show you’re to have on the Food Network®. And if you’ll ask God to forgive you, He’ll make you into the man that you were born to be and I so look forward to seeing you do what God created you to.

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