What
I am about to tell you may not seem like an ‘epiphany’ to some readers but the
I checked the dictionary definition and it stated the word as “A moment of
sudden understanding or revelation”, and for me this was one of those moments.
I was walking down to the local store from my place when I began to notice what
most guys notice during the onset of spring, SHORT EVERYTHING. I remember
stating a week earlier on my blackberry messenger status that the time had come
to start walking looking down. I was feeling particularly vulnerable at this
moment, could have a been a failed attempt to finish a scholarship essay due
this Friday, or fatigue from a whole day workshop on clinical trials. Whatever
the reason I felt the temptation to look a little bit longer or maybe just a
second glance. In that moment I felt something in me say, “It may look
appetising now, but in the end you get used to everything.” This sentence
puzzled me as I walked into the store and looked for items that I needed to
purchase. I started thinking of the implications of that statement, if I were
to date a young lady, no matter how hot she looks I would get used to it ? I
don’t know about you but this was a frightening realisation for me, I felt a
bit like Solomon in Ecclesiastes 2 where he states his multiple pleasures of
life and ends the chapter with these words “....This makes no more sense than chasing the wind.” (CEV)
I
began thinking of the classical male view of male:female struggles, which I myself had supported vehemently many
a time. Simply this view states that, female problems with immorality are
emotional and male problems are physical. Though there are merits to this view,
highlighting the visible elements of male and female sexual immorality
struggles, it takes away from the male experience the issue of the heart and
degrades it to hormonal triggers and erections. To get back to my story, I
managed to buy what I needed from the store, as I walked back that’s when the
epiphanic phrase hit me “NOTHING ELSE
SATISFIES BUT YOU”. For most people who believe in Jesus, these words have
been sung in songs and preached in sermons. There really is nothing epiphanic
or radical about the phrase, or so I used to think. Let me help you get into my
head a little bit, think of the thing you love the most or are most fond of,
resist the temptation to quickly say “Jesus” if you are a Christian. That thing
that popped into your head, will never satisfy. It could be music, I love music
so much,, spend an hour with me and I will mention something music related. But
I realised I can have every Christian album ever written and at the end of the
day, that part of me that seeks contentment will not be filled. Maybe you are a
guy and having the hottest girl really makes you feel awesome. At some point
that girl will not look as hott as she did, not cause she has aged, but just
cause she is no longer new. Then you will go to the next one and she’s hot for
a while but then she loses her zing again. And you keep changing from one girl
to the next, the only thing that changes are the girls and never aching desire
for contentment.
So
I thought to myself on that walk back that for a long time I had been avoiding
looking at scantly dressed women (which is a good practice and advise all guys
to do), but all that had changed was that I didn’t look at scantly dressed
women, my heart was still the same, longing for whatever most satisfies. So I
seek to encourage all my brothers out there who are like me, to see our desires
not through the primitive lens of just a physical appetite, but more an
appetite of our heart. I also encourage those who haven’t met Jesus yet, and
have felt like I did today that all my endeavours without Him being the main
source of satisfaction where like chasing the wind, to seek Him now and have your
hearts longings be satisfied
Love,
peace and happiness
Tau
