A Man's Delight

"A Man's Delight"

Psalm 1

On this Father's Day I have to tell you that in my mind there has never been a greater day to be a man seeking after the things of God than this day in which we live. You may wonder how I could say such a thing with all of the negative press that men have been getting over the past few years. That is a fair question and one that deserves our attention.

Men have been getting a lot of press during the past few years, much of it exposing our sin and expounding upon our shortcomings. We read how we failed our wives and children, floundered in our pursuit of integrity and honor, and how we have fumbled around with no direction and no purpose in life. I don't need to recite the detailed lists of ways in which we have failed - we are well aware of our foibles, failures, and the ways we have fallen.

I do want to say to you that God has shown me that my failure have been greatly multiplied when I have walked contrary to the will of God for my life. I have learned the hard way that life lived apart from God is a sure-fire guarantee for heartache, shame, and failure no matter how rosy the path or how promising the prospects may have appeared at first. I have known the road I should take, and yet I have chosen another road, a dangerous road that has hurt many and could have hurt even more had it not been for the grace of God. I'm sure that many of you men can identify with what I am saying.

With that said, let me reiterate that today is a great day for us as men. The reason why I believe this to be true is because of the widening gap in the two roads that are being held before us as the path for men to pursue in this life. These two roads are diametrically opposed to one another and yet they are the most talked about avenues that men are considering today. The roads are self-fulfillment and submission.

Our society is working overtime to lure men and entice men down the road of self-fulfillment. The road of self-fulfillment is paved with pleasure with its ornately decorated avenues, its seductive sounds of success, its titillating images, and its erotic and exotic sensations. Have you noticed how everything under the sun aimed at attracting men is being packaged with an erotic cover and exotic labels? We as men, and our sons, are being told that real manhood is upheld with the twin pillars of sex and escape, the twin sisters of pleasure. The superhighway of self-fulfillment is filled with buyers and sellers who hock their wares and empty their pockets trying to find something to relieve their burdened hearts and fill their emptiness.

Scantily clad women, if they are scantily clad at all, look at us through the TV screen, the movie screen, in the pages of magazines, and at events we frequent with our sons and daughters and seek to lure us into their trap. Lonely men, empty men, perverted men, and misled men follow like a puppy listening for its master's voice. Madison Avenue knows that when a man is teetering on the edge of an abyss, searching for purpose in life, and walking apart from God's will then that man is vulnerable to his greatest weakness.

Through the years of working with men, listening to men, and being a man myself, I have learned that, for so many of us men, sex is a stumbling block. It is the weak link in the chain of manhood. It is the Achilles heel of manhood. It is our point of vulnerability. Yet, if you listen to the voices of society, if you turn your ear to the so-called authorities, and you pay close attention you will quickly learn that the chief end of man is to experience self-fulfillment that is closely tied to success and sexual ecstasy.

This is what we and our sons are being told, but what we are not being told is the dark side of what society tells us is our soul's delight. What society is selling as our soul's delight in actuality is our soul's demise. There is a wake of destruction and death that follows those who choose this path of pleasure and self-fulfillment. You will never see the stories of men who have lost it all in their pursuit of erotic experiences. You won't hear stories like the ones I know of young men who bought into the lie that sexual freedom brings fulfillment. You won't hear about the time a promising young man's funeral was held at First Christian Church in Plano, Texas. Bobby had ridden the rocket ship of success in the modeling world and was one of Benetton's lead models. He drank it all in, enjoyed his new wealth by splurging on women and good times. Needless to say, Bobby was good looking. He was a cover guy with startling good looks and a body like a Greek god. The women were all over him and he loved every minute of it. But, one day, after the new had worn off and he had found himself empty, Bobby ended his life.