Those are rhetorical questions, because all men do! Such desires represent every man's "default" settings. Like all men, you crave these things. You see, as men, we enter this world with innate desires and aspirations. Foremost among these:
The problem is, although they all want such things, most men are bad at attaining them. More to the point:
You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask [that is, God]. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. (James 4:2-3)As James hints above and as we'll explore elsewhere, such efforts at "happiness" are doomed from the start because of our corrupt minds and debased understanding of what happiness truly is.
CORE TENETS OF NEW MAN RISING
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Money. Possessions. Career advancement. Vacations. Fame. Women. Approval of others. The world's been peddling such things as "happiness" for millennia. Yet the Bible lumps such pursuits into a single category: Vanity. Indeed, Solomon put it best when he wrote: "He who loves money is never satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity" (Ecclesiastes 5:10).
And as for men's desire for purpose? Again, the world offers more cheap counterfeits: Social movements. Ideologies. Politics. Tragically, men swallow these vain prescriptions hook, line, and sinker and achieve the predictable results I enumerated earlier. At best, the world can only offer temporary, or "passing" satisfaction because the world itself is by nature "passing" and fleeting, as the apostle John writes: "...the world is passing away along with its desires." (1 John 2:17)
The good news is you can have true joy. You can experience actual significance. But not by following the world's prescriptions. The answer to how you can achieve these things lies not in what you do but in who you are, or more accurately, who you are to become. The Bible says that to experience true joy, we need to be completely transformed into new men, and that such transformation is only possible by switching our allegiance from this world to Jesus Christ: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation...the old has passed away, the new has come" (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Once we place our trust in Christ and accept his sacrifice on our behalf on the cross, God begins to transform us from men whose debased minds believe and
pursue the world's false promises of "happiness" into "new creations" who experience true joy and whose lives really do impact others in a positive way.
(click to expand for a deeper explanation)
Look at the juxtaposition the apostle Paul paints between people who are "of the flesh" (that is, the world) and those
who are "of the Spirit" (that is, transformed by God):
The flesh:
"Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,
envy, drunkenness, and things like these." (Galatians 5:19-20)
The Spirit:
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control..."(Galatians 22-23)
When we are thus transformed by God, our very natures change, whereby we no longer just dismiss the world's prescriptions for happiness and purpose, but we reject the very definitions
the world uses for "happiness" and "purpose" outright! We no longer want the things this world has to offer. Instead, we accept God's definition and prescriptions, because we
understand that is the only path to true joy, and as we experience that joy, our lives become a blessing to others - thus rendering them purposeful. In other words, true happiness
in God naturally leads to lives of actual purpose and significance that tangibly benefit those around us.
The Bible contends, however, that to experience this transformation from a man destined for unhappy futility to one so full of joy that it overflows to the benefit of others, our minds must be renewed:
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)
Did you get that? You cannot be transformed without first renewing your mind! More to the point, we cannot become the new men God wants us to be if our minds are still set on the old, worthless, and futile things of this world! Why? Well, simply put, you are what you think! It's just common sense. Scripture makes this plain:
For those who live according to the flesh [i.e., the world] set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. (Romans 8:5)
It is also for this reason the apostle Paul exhorted his readers to "no longer walk as the Gentiles [as unbelievers were labeled during that time] do, in the futility of their minds." He understood clearly that the key to his readers leading lives of joyful purpose lay in the transformation that was only made possible by setting their minds on the things of God. Again, you are what you think, and to be made new, you must start by renewing your mind.
New Man Rising (NMR) represents a resource I developed to help men achieve the total transformation necessary to lead lives of abundant joy that are of positive consequence to the people around them. As you'll see and hear me assert over and over again, this type of transformation is only possible through a complete renewal of the mind. Once again, we are and do what we think. I strongly believe the Bible - God's infallible word - has my back on this through countless passages (Romans 8:5, Romans 12:2, and Ephesians 4:23 for starters). In light of this, I contend most men need a wholesale change in how we think about and answer such questions as:
Through articles and videos I plan to post periodically, I hope to help men sort some of these questions out and put them on the transformation journey God intends. In addition to tackling such life-critical matters, on occasion I'll also post articles and videos on less-consequential (albeit still useful) topics like personal finance and physical wellness...based on my observations, I think most men (myself included) could use fresh "mind renewing" perspectives in some of these areas as well! Rest assured, however, that the primary focus of NMR will remain mind renewal as it pertains to spiritual transformation.
I created NMR primarily for Christian men, by whom I mean men who have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. Men who have such a genuine saving relationship:
(click to expand for a deeper explanation of why believers stand to benefit most from this content)
I believe such men stand to benefit most from this resource because by virtue of being "in Christ," they are indwelt with the Holy Spirit and can thus more readily understand
the principles and tenets I present on this website, which are largely informed by Scripture. Scripture testifies why this is true:
The natural person does not understand the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14)
Of course, if you are a non-Christian visitor to NMR, I welcome and invite you to examine my content, as I believe you stand to benefit as well because given that it's based on the Word of an all-wise God, it contains everyday wisdom that can help all visitors, Christians and non-Christians alike. Still, the deeper Spiritual content presented in some of these articles and videos may be lost on those who do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ for the reasons Paul explains in the 1 Corinthians passage above. But most urgently for my non-Christian visitors, my primary appeal to you is that, beyond any material benefit you may gain from NMR, you come to a saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ; your life literally depends on it.