Which Man Are You?

I want to introduce you to TWO different men.

The first man is the man that is broken by sin. This man is not who he wants to be.  His current state of existence resembles but little the true man that God originally designed him to be.  He is in a constant state of unquenched desire, always wanting, yet never satisfied.  His life is marked by fear, confusion, anxiety, shame and guilt.  He uses physical solutions to try to solve spiritual problems and it doesn’t work.  He spends much energy trying to fulfill legitimate needs in illegitimate ways.

This man is caught in a pattern of behaviors that he cannot control.  He does things that contradict his true values.  While he believes in God, his actions don’t align with how he understands God’s ways and it makes him feel miserable.  He lives constantly in a state of being RESTLESS, IRRITABLE and DISCONTENTED.  He wants to do the right thing but often is unable or incapable of achieving it.  He wears a mask that portrays a stable, successful, orderly life to his friends, family and co-workers that makes it appear as if he has it all together.  He spends much energy covering his tracks with lies, deceit and manipulation so he won’t have to suffer the shame of his secret behaviors.

He lives under a cloud of SCARCITY, never having enough and never feeling like he IS enough.  He suffers from the THREE “I’s” of INSIGNIFICANCE, INCOMPETENCE and IMPOTENCE; not valuable enough, not smart enough and, mostly, never strong enough to break this cycle of shameful behavior he engages in, no matter what strategy he uses or how hard he tries.  He is conflicted; in one sense, he does whatever he wants and chooses to do, while in his heart he knows his is consistently doing things he doesn’t want to do.

This man is selfish.  He is self-centered.  He lives by his own choices and will and deviates from God’s commands in many or most areas of his life.  He feels like he is in prison, being punished for his behavior.  He doesn’t understand why God is doing this to him.  If he has a purpose here on earth, he is not aware of it.  He just knows he is not accomplishing it and that makes him feel like a failure.  He seems to constantly be suffering from some kind of calamity or negative consequence of his own choices.  His life is always more or less in a state of chaos.

The second man is the man God designed you to be.  On the day when he first considered you as a person that he would create, God started with a thought, an idea, a dream, an inspired concept.  He may have contemplated and meditated and mused about different versions of YOU with different hair color and eyes and skin color or tones.  He shuffled genetic resources and DNA, trying out different combinations and features and considering different family lines and how each one’s unique history would affect your nature until he came up with the final, perfect blueprint for YOU…ready for production.  And then he made you.  You are a one-of-a-kind, hand-crafted masterpiece designed to bring a unique and special kind of glory to your creator and to the world.  No other person can bring glory to God in the exact manner you can because you are uniquely designed for his special, particular, holy purpose. 

You are a man that is true to God, true to himself and true to others.  You keep your word.  You revel in honesty and you have perfect integrity of heart.  You fear the Lord and you love wisdom.  You seek it constantly, which makes you wise.  You experience trouble and heartache often, but you have learned to rely on God and trust his goodness even in times of suffering.  You are patient, willing to wait for God to work his will in every different difficult situation.  You are generous, always having something to freely give away to others.  In spite of many difficulties, your life is marked by joy, peace, honor, grace and mercy.  Your heart is deeply satisfied in all that God gives you.

You view women as God’s sacred daughters, his children.  You value them.   You are impressed by their magnificent design and you praise God for the way he crafted them so attractive and beautiful.  You do not see them as objects to be taken from for your pleasure, but as sisters to be protected and honored. You know that God has one, special and unique woman chosen especially for you and you are willing to patiently await for him to reveal her to you.  She will be the one you give your whole body, mind and soul to here on earth – the ONLY one.  You will honor her with your loyalty and love her until the day you die.

You recognize that God has a unique purpose and mission he has called you to.  You understand it and accept responsibility for it fully because this is the man you want to be.  You energetically and enthusiastically discharge your life’s energy into accomplishing his command for you because you trust him and you know he is good.  You bring glory to God through loving, helping and serving others.  You are selfless, not selfish and self-centered.  You have been given a new name and accepted a whole new identity.  As you fulfill your mission, your life is blessed in such rich ways by God, you feel that your heart will explode in gratitude and praise to him.  You live a purposeful, fulfilled and enjoyable life here on earth and know that an even better life awaits you with God in eternity.

Which one of these men do you most relate to?  Do you relate to the second man and know how valuable you are to God?  Are you fulfilling the purpose he designed you for?  Are you confident that you know what it is? 

Or, does your life more resemble the first man broken by sin?  Are you truly free or do you feel imprisoned?  Do you live your life with a clear vision of God’s mission for you or do you feel lost?  Do you live most days in hopeful joy and gratitude or are you stuck in a pattern of bad behavior that is weighing you down and draining the life out of you?

OK, be real with yourself for a second.  Do you relate more to the FIRST broken, selfish and self-centered man than the second man who understands God’s purpose for him?

If you relate more to the FIRST man, broken by sin and caught in a pattern of addiction like I was, then I want to give you HOPE.  God has made a way to get you out of that vicious cycle of addiction, confusion and chaos and bring you INTO a life of order, freedom and purpose.  It is a path you must take that leads to your TRUE SELF, towards the man God originally designed you to be.  It all starts with just being willing to take that FIRST STEP.