What a piece of work...

"What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel! In apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world - the paragon of animals!"

Hamlet (Act II - Sc. II)

Shakespeare truly had a grasp on the human condition. His plays and stories have captured the hearts of men and women for centuries. Personally, I am quite fond of his work. I particularly enjoy the humor and drama of the way he tells a love story, like "Much Ado About Nothing." He truly was ahead of his time!

But there was this other guy who also understood the human condition... more specifically, the male condition. He lived a few hundred years before Shakespeare, and he used to walk around with some pretty impressive folks. But then Jesus came to him, and his name became synonymous with evangelism and conversion. Saul became Paul.

The passage below might seem long, but it is worth the read. We all, gentlemen, can relate to this. Every single man since the original sin is tainted in this way. The question is, can you see it for what it is, as Paul did?

14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. ^[a] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature ^[b] a slave to the law of sin. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Romans 7:14-25

Men, we must be ready to stand on principle, as Paul did, and recognize that we are new creations in Christ! Stand firm, and lead your family. Remember, all of us go through it... never feel alone!

God bless you all!!!