"Be the Man!" Week 9

The website http://www.despair.com/ drips with cynicism and dark humor. It takes great words like “motivation,” “perseverance,” and “team” and projects them to their most Dilbert-like, distorted caricature. The “Mistakes” poster has this caption: “It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others.” Tragically, that may be true of Old Testament miscreant Absalom. In many ways ignored, isolated and wounded by his father David, Absalom finally took his identity and legacy into his own hands. He decided his life really was about him, and him alone. He awarded himself a self-produced trophy, but it proved to be his gravestone. He proved Jesus’ words true: if you want to save your own life, you will lose it. It is only in giving it away that you find it. Poor Absalom! Offended, wounded, ignored, he then became vengeful, scheming and proud. His pillar of fame became his epitaph of futility. (2 Samuel 13-18)
Roger