The Weight of life - for Men

The weight of life

Some people take on the challenges of life with zeal. They attack life with endless possibilities. Their dreams and their ability are harmonized. Life for them is limited only by their imagination. But others see life more as a load, a burden. The challenges are weight and require a strength or skill they do not have. Or if they do have the skill, they lack the confidence to carry it.

Still others, maybe most of us, see life as a combination. We live most of the time with high hope, we are looking forward. We get out of bed with purpose, even if it is a small one. We think of our to-do list with both joy and responsibility. Life is good and bad but there is enough good to keep going.

But there are also times when the weight of relationships, employment, friendship or some other necessity weighs us down. A sickness, death or disease cruses our spirits, then our hopes and if not lifted, it may even crush our existence.

Our purpose is lost to us. Others may see it but when they do we often only feel judged for not seeing it or believing in ourselves. The daily grind is grinding us up. We are not advancing in life. The fight is gone.

It is at this point that the gospel of Jesus, the things that Jesus teaches about life, living and eternity are the most important. Jesus is a wise messenger. He is skillful at dealing with the weight, pain, and suffering of life. The most dominant image of His life is the cross and everyone, well most everyone I know, has been betrayed and nailed to a cross. Jesus helps us. He is the one who shows us how to live on the other side of crucifixion.

Today I want to share a part of His message. Pick up your cross.

I’m not asking you to change the world, to make everything better. I’m asking you to grab ahold of your weight and drag it down the path. It may seem impossible to you, but it’s not. You may have no strength or passion to do it, yet you can. You can take the weight of life and advance it. Even if it’s just a little. You can move forward.

A little something is better than a big nothing.

And you will feel it too. Doing a little something, every day will make a difference in your life. It will change your perspective as you move down the road. Sure, in ten or fifteen days you might not notice much. But in sixty or in a hundred days of dragging your cross down the pathway of life you will no longer be where you are today. You will have advanced. You will have moved on.

And you should know that you don’t go fast carrying a cross. Jesus didn’t. And maybe like Him you too have been beaten up and abused by others. Life has many injustices. Even the best people, the people who heal, hope, dream and help others are rejected, beaten and abused. Just because bad things happen to you doesn’t mean that you are bad. Jesus teaches us that too.

And when Jesus could no longer carry His cross, He fell to the ground. A stranger was ordered to help. Beaten, bleeding and exhausted Jesus still moved on with the help of others. How many of us think we must do everything ourselves or think that others should be doing more for us? The reality is that in life you go as far as you can go and once you fall in defeat, you wait and see if someone helps.

 

Jesus fell a few times carrying His cross. Then life whipped him some more. He found the strength to get up and keep going. Most of the time when we fall we are not done. We are only broken. Broken people can keep going. Bleeding people can keep going. The cross is heavy for them, it is beyond their ability to carry all the way, but they are not done yet carrying it as far as they can. Help is not here yet. You want it to be, but it’s not.

Many men, young and old, are being whipped and rejected these days. They are being attacked by all kinds of evil. Good men, yet still men, are being blamed for the ills of society. The demonic voices are calling out “crucify them.” Through false testimony and bogus allegation, men are being paraded through our society as the criminal that needs to be executed. “Kill manhood and all will be good.”

It’s tough to live in a society where people want to kill you. But what are you going to do about it? We are not the first to go through bigotry, injustice, hatred, endless accusation. All through history people have had times when the gaze of society caused a smirk, an act of rejection, a mindset of “worthless.” Racism, sexism, intolerance, and phobia are real things and they are not real just because men do them, they are real because they are done toward men.

Some reading this might think, “poor men.” Oh, how bad they have it. So sad that these evil people now have the justice they deserve.

I’m not asking men or any person who is under a load to seek justice. Justice is coming to all and there is nothing we can do about it. That is the point. That is why Jesus is so critical. I’m saying what Jesus said. Carry that cross. Sure, do what you can for truth, righteousness, and justice. But don’t let those issues define you. Carry your load. Endure the whip and get up. Keep going until our done. And you’re not done until He says you done. And don’t think for a moment that this world, any society determines your value, purpose or worth. Don’t get trapped in a delusion that pain equals significance.

Grab ahold of that bloody cross and get up. Keep following. Be a man and follow. You’re going somewhere. Somewhere very difficult, but eternal. Somewhere you can’t see. But you only need to see the next step.

You don’t know it now but each step you take is giving others courage. Every time you fall and get up, you are giving away hope. Your brokenness is breaking down defeat and despair. Your life is not nothing. I can’t tell you what it is all about. No one can. Only Jesus is wise enough to see the big picture, to affirm your place in history. Quit focusing so much on what you're going through. Keep your eyes on Him, on Jesus. And if that is not possible look at all those other guys carrying their cross. Don’t compare yourself, just be who you are. And get up again. Every day get up. Drag your cross down the road a bit.

I know someone probably told you that you were special, and that life is going to hand you all the desires of your heart. It’s not. Life is hard, and you are being made into a person that overcomes. Your strength is not in what you dream but in what you do. It’s not in how you are treated by others but how you treat others.

You’re a man for God’s sake. And do what men do. Carry that cross up that hill and die. Die so that others can live. Die so that injustice is pushed back. Die so that all the evil done to you ends, is forgiven, stops defiling others. There may be absolutely no glory for you on this side of life. You may never hear a word of praise. No one may ever thank you for your service, your love, your giving all you had to give. Get up, carry that load.

Jesus has you covered. The Brotherhood of Christ has a place and plan for you, for your reward and honor. That’s why you can give it all now. Now is not all there is. Jesus will show you. He will teach you. The world doesn’t want you to know, to believe in Him. They want you under their rule, their thumb, their influence.

Listen, no one carrying a cross is going to be mad at you if you don’t. It’s your choice. No true cross carrying man is mad at the world. They gave that up to follow Jesus. Love bears all things not tries to manipulate all things. Love endures, love sacrifices. Who would have thought that it takes men to love, men to pay the price?