Monday, March 10,
2014, 9:11 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “Courageous!” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Jeremiah 1 (NIV).
Not Afraid!
The
word of the Lord came to me, saying,
“Before
I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the
nations.”
“Alas,
Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”
But
the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I
send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am
with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.
Then
the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put
my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to
uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”
Truly this was Jeremiah’s specific call to ministry by God
Almighty, and yet there are aspects of this call which are not peculiar to him
alone, but which contain the essential elements of God’s call on the lives of
all of his followers. We are all to be his witnesses, his lights to the world,
and we are all to go and to make disciples of Christ of all peoples, baptizing
and teaching them to obey all of Christ’s commandments. And, all throughout
scripture we are urged to not be afraid of man and what he might do to us, but we
are to put our trust in Jesus Christ alone. As well, we learn in the NT that
each of us is to exhort, instruct, encourage, counsel, correct and to build-up
other followers of Christ in the faith, as these are our working parts within
the body of Christ, and for the edification of his church.
Idol Worship
…I
will pronounce my judgments on my people
because of their wickedness in forsaking
me,
in
burning incense to other gods
and in worshiping what their hands have
made.
In yesterday’s devotional, “Insults to God,” which you can read here - http://originalworks.info/insults-to-god/
- the Lord Jesus led me to begin to look into the teachings of John Eldredge – Christian
counselor, teacher and author – because there are some very disturbing aspects
of his teaching which are greatly troubling me. Today, I believe, God would
have me share a little bit more of what this teacher is spewing forth to
Christian men (and women) in the Evangelical Christian churches here in
America. In his book, “Wild at Heart,”
on pgs 7-12, Eldredge said some more disturbing things:
“And
then, alas, there is the church. Christianity, as it currently exists, has done
some terrible things to men… I believe that most men in the church believe that
God put them on the earth to be a good boy. The problem with men, we are told,
is that they don’t know how to keep their promises, be spiritual leaders, talk
to their wives, or raise their children. But, if they will try real hard they
can reach the lofty summit of becoming… a nice guy. That’s what we hold up as
models of Christian maturity: Really Nice Guys. We don’t smoke, drink, or
swear; that’s what makes us men. Now, let me ask my male readers: In all your
boyhood dreams growing up, did you ever dream of becoming a Nice Guy?” (WaH pg.
7)
So, what’s the underlying message here? I believe the
message is clear: Being a “good boy” or a “nice guy” who keeps his promises,
who is a spiritual leader, who talks with his wife, and who raises his children
is bad. He is not a “real man.” A feeling of shame is thus attached to the
image of the “nice guy” who does what is right; who obeys the word of the Lord,
walks in the Spirit and not in the flesh, and who loves his wife and who honors
his God. On the other hand, if you smoke, drink and swear, then you are a “real
man.”
“God
meant something when he meant man, and if we are ever to find ourselves we must
find that. What has he set in the masculine heart? Instead of asking what you
think you ought to do to become a better man (or woman, for female readers), I
want to ask, What makes you come alive? What stirs your hearts? The journey we
face now is into a land foreign to most of us. We must head into country that
has no clear trail. This charter for exploration takes us into our own hearts,
into our deepest desires. As the playwright Christopher Fry says, ‘Life is a
hypocrite if I can’t live the way IT moves me!’” (WaH pg. 9)
I agree that God created both male and female, and that we
are distinguished from each other in personality, drive, thought, and in the
particular Biblical roles each one of us is to fulfill. I concur that men are
generally the “hunters” and women the “nurturers.” I do also assent to the fact
that men should be men and that women should be women. I, as well, grant that
there has been too much blending or even switching of roles in today’s society,
and that can lead to much confusion and, yes, even to the emasculation of men.
Yet, I don’t believe that the Bible distinguishes the heart
of males from that of females. Whether male or female, we either have sinful,
unbelieving hearts, or we have regenerated hearts by the Spirit of God living
within us because of God’s grace to us, and through our personal faith and
trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives. As followers of Christ,
we should now have HIS heart within us, and it is HIS heart which we should now
seek to discover, not our own hearts, which, since we still live in flesh
bodies, can still give way to the desires of the flesh. We should not be asking
what stirs our hearts, but what stirs the heart of God, and then we should ask
God to put that same stirring within us. This journey of the Christian faith
and practice and walk in the Spirit has a clear path we must follow, not one
where we aimlessly wander and explore trying to find our “true selves.” It is
not “Life” that should move us, but what should move us is the Life of God
within us.
The danger I see in much of what I know and have read of
Eldredge, and others like him, is that he seems to be leading men more toward
self-discovery rather than God-discovery, and more toward a thought that
somehow men don’t have to follow the same Biblical standards as women, because
they are men, and so they are exempt. Oh, how wrong!
“There
are three desires I find written so deeply into my heart I know I can no longer
disregard them without losing my SOUL. They are core to who I am and yearn to
be… they are a clue into masculinity itself… In the heart of EVERY man is a
desperate desire for a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to
rescue… a yearning… to find a place where he can be all he knows he was meant to be. To borrow Walter Brueggeman’s
description of God: ‘wild, dangerous, unfettered and free’.” (WaH, pg. 9-12)
Granted, Eldredge was probably speaking metaphorically when
he said he could not disregard these three desires without losing his SOUL, and
yet doesn’t this speak volumes to us about this man who, as a Christian, would
use such language to describe the degree in which he holds these humanistic
desires in such high esteem, and in level of importance in his life; that if he
lacked them he would feel as though he would lose his very soul? Wow!
He continues by saying these three masculine desires are
core (essential, central, basic, and at the heart and center) to who he is as a
person and what he yearns to be. Where is God in all of this? Where is John’s
hunger and thirst for God - to be the man of God that scripture teaches he
ought to be. Oh, how he hates that word “ought.” It appears from what he says that
he doesn’t want to be what he “should” be, but who he wants to be, in his own
flesh.
So, what is this battle to fight, and adventure to live, and
beauty to rescue which he believes is so valuable to his life that he would
lose his very soul if he did not do these things? He says “little boys” yearn
to know that they are “powerful, dangerous and someone to be reckoned with”
(pg. 10), that “aggression is part of the masculine design” (pg. 10), and he
says that “a boy wants to attack something – and so does a man...” (pg. 10). His
description of man as a warrior includes his thirst for bloodshed, danger and
competition. He has to win, even if others have to die (see pg. 11). So, he
quotes from and shows movie clips from such movies as “Braveheart,” “Saving Private
Ryan,” the “Die Hard” films, and
the like, in order to encourage men to be brave, strong and fierce warriors.
Wow! And, he uses his own twisted perception of the divine character of God to
justify this, too. Yet, God is not like us, though Eldredge tries to make him
like us, and we are not God.
Get Ready!
“Get
yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be
terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them. Today I have made you a
fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole
land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of
the land. They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with
you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.
So, is there a battle that must be fought by us? Most
certainly! Yet, it is not peculiar to just men, and it is not fought with the
weapons of this world – not with guns, knives, fists, bullying, or the shedding
of human blood. It is fought on a spiritual battlefield with the spiritual
weapons God has given to us. Jesus Christ already won this battle for us via
his death and resurrection. We just have to put on (apply to our lives) what he
has already done for us (See Eph. 6:10-20). We are to fight the good fight of
faith, and we are to resist the devil and his lies - which Eldredge is spewing
forth - with our faith, our salvation, Christ’s righteousness, the truth of God’s
word, and with the true gospel of salvation. Yet, when we stand up for what is
right, and we expose what is evil and wrong, there will be those who will fight
against us, yet we should not be afraid, for God is with us.
Courageous! / An
Original Work / December 24, 2013
Based off Various Scriptures
The Word of God
throughout taught.
Some people heard, but
did doubt.
Still others had faith
in Christ.
By grace He purified
them.
They turned from sin
And they obeyed
Christ.
He opened up their blinded
eyesight;
Turned them from
darkness
To the true Light;
Forgave their sin by
His might.
He strengthened them
in their faith.
He said, “Remain my
faithful.”
He called them to
obedience.
By faith, they were so
grateful.
By faith, they were to
follow Jesus;
To daily sit and
listen to Him;
To have such faith
That mountains could
move;
To love those whom He
gave them.
Be on your guard;
courageous.
Stand firm in faith.
Be thankful.
Take up the shield of
your faith;
Protect against all
evil.
Do not move from
The hope that you
have.
Your faith in Jesus
let it endure.
Hold to the truth;
Your conscience be
clear.
Endure with
perseverance.
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