The modern world has mastered survival but forgotten dominion. Across societies strained by economic uncertainty, fractured relationships, and spiritual fatigue, many men have reduced life to endurance rather than construction. Survival whispers, “I hope things improve.” Dominion declares, “I will build until improvement becomes inevitable.” This distinction is not motivational rhetoric; it is theological. From the opening pages of Scripture, humanity was never commissioned merely to exist but to steward, cultivate, and govern creation. In an age where passivity increasingly masquerades as humility, Christianity must recover its original language of responsibility, ownership, and purposeful authority.
The biblical narrative begins not with scarcity but with assignment. In Genesis 1:28, God blesses humanity and commands them to “be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion.” Dominion here is neither oppression nor arrogance; it is ordered stewardship under divine authority. Adam was placed in Eden not as a spectator but as a cultivator. The garden required tending, naming, organizing, and protecting. Survival mentality reacts to circumstances, but dominion mentality shapes them. One waits for rain; the other digs irrigation channels. The difference is initiative born from identity. When men forget who they are, they retreat into waiting rooms of hesitation instead of stepping into workshops of creation.
Christ’s teachings reinforce this principle through parable and practice. In the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14–30), the servant who buried his gift acted from survival instinct, fearing loss. The servants who multiplied theirs demonstrated dominion thinking, embracing responsibility despite uncertainty. The rebuke was not for failure but for inactivity. Scripture consistently honors builders: Noah constructing an ark before rain existed, Nehemiah rebuilding walls amid opposition, and Paul planting churches across hostile territories. Faith, in its biblical form, is never passive optimism; it is courageous participation in God’s unfolding work.
Modern masculinity often oscillates between aggression and apathy, missing the biblical middle ground of disciplined dominion. Marriage falters when leadership becomes avoidance. Finances stagnate when initiative yields to excuses. Mission collapses when purpose is postponed indefinitely. Dominion confidence is what transforms intention into structure. It is the energy of ownership—the willingness to say, “This responsibility is mine before God.” The Apostle Paul captures this posture in 1 Corinthians 16:13: “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.” Strength here refers not merely to physical force but to moral and spiritual agency.
“A man without responsibility is a man without destiny. God gives vision to those willing to carry burden.”
— E. A. Adeboye
Great Christian leaders have consistently framed faith as constructive action rather than passive expectation. John Wesley’s ministry reshaped societies because he refused resignation to spiritual decline. Dietrich Bonhoeffer resisted tyranny because discipleship demanded costly obedience. Dominion leadership emerges when belief translates into structure: schools built, families restored, communities served, and institutions renewed. Waiting may feel safe, but history rarely remembers those who waited; it remembers those who built under pressure.
“Faith is not believing God will do it while you sit still; faith is obeying God until the impossible submits.”
— T. D. Jakes
The crisis facing many societies today is not merely economic or political; it is existential. A generation taught to survive hardship has not always been taught to govern opportunity. Dominion leadership restores forward motion. It replaces blame with responsibility and fear with initiative. Biblical dominion does not dominate people; it disciplines self, cultivates environments, and multiplies resources for collective flourishing. Jesus Himself modeled this balance, washing feet while commanding storms, serving humanity while exercising divine authority.
Christianity therefore calls men beyond survival into stewardship. Marriage becomes a garden to nurture, money a tool to manage wisely, and mission a calling to pursue relentlessly. Waiting is sometimes necessary for divine timing, but perpetual waiting becomes spiritual paralysis. Dominion begins when faith moves from prayer alone to prayer accompanied by construction. As James 2:17 reminds believers, “Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” The future belongs not to those who merely endure history but to those who build faithfully within it. Dominion, rightly understood, is simply obedience with momentum. I mean faith that refuses to stand still.
– Inah Boniface Ocholi writes from Ayah – Igalamela/Odolu LGA, Kogi state.
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