Needy, Weak and Sinful (Men)

Jesus as the God-man who walked the earth was closest to the needy, weak and sinful.

Jesus Christ is also at this present time close to the needy, weak and sinful.

                I love this fact, it’s great and I celebrate it, but as a man I don’t want to be the needy, weak and sinful one that he’s close to. I want to be close to Christ, but as a man,  I want to be self-assured, confident, comfortable in my own skin, strong, completely pure, whole and holy. As a man I want to come to Jesus standing straight up with chest stuck out and the medals of my victories pinned firmly to my breast and the trophies of my conquests gripped proudly in my hands, so that I can show him what a good disciple I have been. I want Christ to look at me with pride in His eyes and give me the well done, good and faithful speech.

But, if I look down deep in my heart, it says that I really want to be the Man that did it, that conquered, that won, even though it was Jesus all along who conquered and won.

Along with us men, Jesus yearns and dies for us to be assured in Him, confident in Him, comfortable in Him and completely pure, whole and holy, in Him.

But, I have found that  what I want  to be, what I see myself as, and what I really am, are two different things entirely. How about you?

Just ask your wife or your mother who you really are. No wait, that won’t work, they are our wives and mothers and love us too much to tell us the truth. Perhaps at this point it would be wise to ask a trusted and mature mentor or pastor who we really are. Better yet, ask Jesus Himself. He is sure to answer and will give you the truth without worrying about whether we get our feelings hurt or not.

Let’s get brutally honest for a moment. I love brutal honesty as long as it’s me and not you. (That’s some more brutal honesty with a twist of humor based in truth.)

In the spirit of Christ I don’t really want you to be needy, weak and sinful either. But, if you are, I have the utmost compassion, my heart cries out for your healing and I’ll pray for you, minister to you, and give you some good advice. Some of which I have learned along the way and hopefully follow. But, I just don’t want to be the one that’s needy weak and sinful.

As a man this is all hard to reckon with in my own life.

When I spend so much effort worrying about my own power, am I missing His? Am I throwing the baby out with the bath water? Perhaps.

I could go on and on and tell you how to deal with this in your life. I really know how, but as Paul said in Romans 7:18 …for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. Since this really is the case, I guess I truly am needy, weak and sinful, and as long as I keep this perspective Christ can help me, and along the way I will learn to be the Christ-assured, Christ-confident, and Christ –strong man that will cause His eyes to fill with pride and His mouth utter the words, “Well done good and faithful”.

Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing'—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.' -Jesus as recorded in Revelation 3:17-18