"Why? What happened?" I asked, crushed that this young little family was breaking up. My great nephew won't know the safe harbor of a close knit family.
"I don't know, Gina. It's the 21st Century Man thing."
"Huh?"
I had never heard that term before. The 21st Century Man. I never thought I'd quote David Bowie, but here goes: Heathenism is a state of mind. You can take it that I'm referring to one who does not see his world. He has no mental light. He destroys almost unwittingly. He cannot feel any of God's presence in his life. He is the 21st century man.
I had no concept of this until I remember Paul's most excellent explanation to his spiritual son, Timothy...
2Timothy 3:1 But know this, that in the last days grievous times will be upon us. 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, money-lovers, braggarts, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 without natural feeling, unyielding, slanderers, without self-control, savage, haters of good, 4 betrayers, reckless, puffed up, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness, but denying the power of it; even turn away from these.
It is truly about
vertical relationships, not horizontal. It breaks my heart that I see marriages break up all the time because "He doesn't make me happy anymore..." "I don't love her anymore..." "She doesn't make me zing anymore..."[insert shocked look] Since when did God ever promise happiness from another person? Since... ummm... never.
God has promised peace... love... blessings... satisfaction... strong bones... no thirst or hunger... and so much more there's not space for it, all from God Himself. But, never from another person. Not horizontally, only vertically.
That Vertical Relationship has no end, no topmost point because it is anchored in God Himself. It is He that makes it solid, and since He is our Rock, we will never be moved. It is as Solomon points out, God being that third cord wrapping around the two cords which makes the rope unbreakable and the knot immovable from the Anchor.
Horizontal relationships with family, friends, acquaintances and associates will never be healthy unless tied with the unbreakable Cord and knotted in the true Anchor.
3 comments:
I share your heart break over this. It's even worse, though, because it's not the "21st century man", but the 21st century person.
In 1980, the ratio of husbands divorcing their wives to wives divorcing their husbands was 600:1. (Careful. Don't get shook there. It's not a quantity; it's a ration. For every one woman who divorced her husband, 600 men divorced their wives.) By 1990, however, the ratio was 12:1 ... in reverse. For every man who divorced his wife, 12 women divorced their husbands.
That, and the lack of apparent distinction in divorce rates among Christians and non-Christians, is truly heartbreaking.
I agree. We have become too lazy. I think there must be a correlation between how much true labor a person does and how hard the person holds on to the one loved. These days, our muscles have become so fat and loose with lack of use. That includes the heart muscle, too.
I call it the "disposable mentality". The human race has become so used to just throwing things away, even when those things are NOT broken, that that kind of attitude just spreads over to people and their relationships, too.
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