Men Without Friends (Part 3)
Who are You? What Defines You?
Despair… Little Hope…..Real Depression……Death!
Part 3 has been a tough one to write. It has taken me two weeks to write it because it hits close to home. My wife and I buried a family member last week. It was painful. It’s still painful. It will be painful for the rest of our lives. We loved him dearly and we will miss him dearly. I’m in tears right now as I recall his short life of 44 years; the struggles, the pain, the lack of hope and overwhelming despair. He was too young, too intelligent, too funny, too witty, too much life and personality, to leave this earth. And as I am thinking about it, I am doing the “What If” scenarios of…… If I just had done this or If I had just said that or If I had just visited him and intervened or IF I had just ___________________! You fill in the blank! But that approach is futile with few answers and lots of frustration.
Why Am I Here?
Why do men give up? Why do men consider themselves unworthy ………. especially of living? Why do men identify solely with their jobs or hobbies or sports teams or net worth or girlfriend or wife or material possessions or status or title or education or experiences or even who they know?
And even wealthy and successful men give up on life. The CEO of MARTA in Atlanta decided last Friday to step in front of one of his trains and end it all. Another “middle aged white man” statistic! Robin Williams and Anthony Bourdain ……… funny, extremely wealthy, popular and full of life ……… now Dead by suicide! The causes range from depression to sickness to family loss to mental illness to job loss to financial loss and other issues.
And such were some of you! Who Am I? What Defines Me?
But I believe it comes down mostly to forgetting who you are. Why were you born? What is your purpose on this planet? Who loves you and cherishes you? Who is praying God’s best for you? Who are you called to love and serve? What makes you come alive? How can you add value to your neighborhood and community and the poor and children and the elderly? There is just too much to do before we leave this planet. But many men either forget who they are or have never found themselves. And many of us are ashamed of our pasts and what we have done and who we have been to our wives, our friends, our parents, our siblings, our work mates or our brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul sums it up quite nicely in 1 Corinthians 6: 9-11.
“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
What a Friend we have………..
Sorry guys. I don’t have a 12 step program or a Tony Robbins self-help book to cure what has corrupted you. You don’t need a 5 day Ultimate Breakthrough 2022 Challenge. What you need is a friend. Do you have a friend? Well…….. you have a standing offer…… from Jesus of Nazareth:
“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” John 15: 13-15
But there is more……….. And it gets better. You are not just his friend. If you have trusted in Jesus, you have been washed, you have been sanctified and you have been justified in His name as Paul told the corrupt church of Corinth. That’s just insane if you really think about it! But is gets even better as Paul says in Romans 4:5………..
“And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.”
Jesus justifies the ungodly. That would be us, everyone of us! Just as if you have never sinned. Your faith is counted as righteousness. Washed, sanctified and justified. He is Your Friend if you do what He commands you.
My Hope is Built on Nothing Less……
Men lose hope. They forget who they are. They get depressed and life gets complicated and hopeless. I believe our family member forgot who he was, how much he was loved and what Jesus did for him. You can build your hope on many things but if it’s not solely on the person of Jesus, there is no hope for you. The great news is there is hope for all men who have faith in Jesus and that faith is counted as righteousness!
My Hope is built on Nothing Less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
Your hope, your identity, your purpose can be in Jesus, the solid rock.
