In contrast to the frustrated man who would like to run away from his responsibilities stands the redemed man who feels safe and secure. He can be a shelter to others because he himself is sheltered. He is not afraid even at times he should lose or suffer defeat. He simply gets up again and keeps keeping on.
He is a man who has accepted himself not only with his strengths but also with his weaknesses. His secret: he knows he has been accepted by the heavenly Father. He has a place where he can put his feet under the table. He can say with the psalmist, "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies" (Psalm 23:5). He can say, "You have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe. I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings." (Psalm 61:3-4) ...
This is the longing of all mankind - to have security, to know where one's place is. God created man and then he created a place for him, the Garden of Eden. When man lost God, he lost at the same time his place. Since then, the longing for a place where he belongs, where he feels at home, is in the heart of every human being.
Those who have not found a place, the uprooted, the eternal Gypsies will find a place nowhere, not even in marriage. On the other hand, those who have found a place, married or unmarried, will be able to become a place where others feel at home, thus filling one of the deepest needs of our time. In light of this, Jesus' promise "to prepare a place" for us is filled with new meaning (John 14:2). Those who have found him have found their place ...
... The redeemed man ... is a whole man. He is whole first of all because he belongs to a family, the family of God. God, his Father, makes him one of his sons.
He is a whole man because he feels worthy. Christ died to give him birth and therefore he can take as his own the worthiness of Christ.
He is a whole man because he feels competent. This competence comes from the Holy Spirit. "God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and self-discipline" (2 Timothy 1:7)
- Walter Trobisch
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