"I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother; you were very dear to me. Your love for me was wonderful, more wonderful than that of women." 2 Samuel 1:26
We live in a country that has forgotten the power of masculine love. How many men today would willingly admit that the love of another man was more wonderful than the love of women? Somehow along the way, love has become equated with sex, and most men fear what others might think if the truth were known: Inside every man is a little boy, and every boy has a God-given need for the love of men. There probably isn't a man alive who doesn't desire the love of another man - specifically the love of the first man in his life...
Interestingly, King David loved another man more than any woman, and he was not afraid to say it. In fact, he required that every man in Judah learn a lament that proclaimed it. There wasn't a man who didn't know what Jonathan meant to him. Obviously, David was completely unafraid of what others might think. He was God's anointed king. He knew that the approval of men is fleeting, and only God's opinion matters.
Lord, for so long I have been afraid of myself. There is nothing like the love of a brother. This is especially true for a man who so desperately longed for his father's love and never perceived it. You have placed so many brothers in my path. I am not afraid to say the words, "I love you." Help every man in America come to understand the importance of masculine love. Make us unafraid to be real men.