I haven’t written in a while and this is in most part because I have been struggling with life and the purpose of my own personal journey. Even as I sit here I think of the name of my blog, “A Man’s Greatest Battle” and also the verse I have based my person struggles on 1 Corinthians 6:12; “…everything is permissible for me, but I will not be brought under control of anything” I think of why there is so much struggle for purpose and identity in a man’s life.This huge struggle to find identity and purpose is hampered by sexual sin that has been captivated by the world in forms of internet porn, prostitution, DVDs, TV sitcoms, reality shows, MTV, BET, main stream movies and even video games. The men of the biblical day had to encounter some of these things but obviously with new found technology of the modern world; which is meant for good has also enhanced the addicts of sexual sin by main streaming it into every venue possible to create multi-billion dollar industries while leaving a wake of destruction in the form of a selfish ambitions and agenda’s.
What is a man’s purpose? Is it a race to see which one can obtain more power, money and the latest new trended items before we die? Or is it to buy a car or truck and have 22’ wheels and a screaming stereo system to ensure that everyone knows the song that we are listening to? Maybe, it is to wear the clothes with the best label and try to be like these celebrities that people idolize all so that people can label us according to our dress and actions? Odds are we all fall under one of these categories because we are humans and we are not perfect. We all look for purpose; however, sadly we look for our purpose skin deep and this is where the problems set in.
I have been on this journey of purpose in my life for all my life, every man is. The problem is that I used to jump to what ever was popular or trendy depending on the circle of people I was around at the time. I never really developed who I was because I was so intrigued with being noticed or important. This drive to be noticed or to be important is what drives men to dive head first into a materialistic world full of empty promises and a bad bill of goods. The world promises a lot and when we take an honest assessment of our life’s filled with expensive clothes, credit cards, loans, TVs, DVDs, computers and technology galore, what it has really done is draw our attention away from God. I’m not against having these things but you must ask yourself a very important question, if it was all stripped away what would you do? Right now many people work very hard at maintaining a lifestyle that requires all the earthly comforts, desires and expectations. What happens when these things are threatened or tampered with – where do you run for comfort? I can tell you right now in our society the answer is to run to something that makes you feel better temporarily. Sexual immorality.
Without getting into all the “ins and outs” of why people turn to certain things, I want to focus of why men run to porn or a better question is why men get put in a position to sin sexually? The industries that specialize in the realm of sexually related services have become a mutli-billion dollar business; this is just the industries that publicly trade; there is a whole other sex industry that is thriving underground called the sex-trade or human trafficking. Sexual immorality is real and the addictions that come from it are as real as it gets.
What do we do with this? First, men have to admit that they are looking at porn, lusting with the eyes, or talking scantily about a female all of that is sexual immorality and every time this sin occurs something dies. Wives become entangled with un-realistic expectations while being disrespected and unloved. Boyfriend/girlfriend relationships become a guilt trip or an expectation for sex; which takes the gift of sex from God for marriage and turns it into something shameful. The word prostitute is used numerous times throughout the Bible; many times prostitute is used to show an act of selling yourself out. In Jeremiah 3 God speaks through the prophet about the unfaithfulness of the people in Israel and Judah. After comparing the people’s sin of that of the actions of a prostitute and explaining that the people of Judah didn’t truly return to God but only simply implied they wanted God. This is where we have to be as men of God, are we going to return to God whether at home or away and make it our aim to be pleasing to Him (2 Corinthians 5:9). Or do we simply grow ashamed of God and His words in this adulterous and sinful generation; which, will only result in Jesus being ashamed of us (Mark 8:38).
Jesus went to the cross, so we must go to the cross, we must remind ourselves that we are carrying around the death of Jesus because we need a new life with His motivations, His purposes, His favor so that He might dominate in everything we do (2 Corinthians 4:10). If we as men want our marriages, children, careers, relationships to have deep rooted love and purpose then we must have a God-centered life. The beauty of Jeremiah 3 is that God asked for the return of unfaithful Israel, not looking in anger but full of love. The only thing that starts the reconciliation with God is that we must acknowledge our guilt in the ways we have sinned (Jeremiah 3:11-13). It’s that simple; if we want to find our purpose in life we must reconcile with God and then work to reconcile our relationships in our lives. Take a stand against what the world says is good and look to God for what is right and good in the Bible. It’s hard to start but reach out and pray for people to rise up in your lives and for help to understand the scriptures.
