Friday, March 02, 2007


Anna finally got to eat some snow...

Manliness

I can remember that when I was a little boy it was very important to me to figure out what it means to be manly… I also remember that my impression of manliness came mostly from characters in movies… I thought that to be manly was to be some sort of mix between Rocky, Indiana Jones and Rambo. (By the way, I guess it’s part of the magic of movies that Sylvester Stallone made that list twice…) I thought a true man was someone who was brave, fearless, adventurous, never cried, had a truck load of attitude, was completely physically ripped and pretty much just unstoppable.

Then I met Jesus.

You know, the more I get to know Him, the more things change… His definitions are different than ours. He has a whole different set of priorities and a whole different idea about what makes a man. I was reading Psalm 45 which is a wedding song for the Messiah King who would one day come… the sons of Korah were praising this great one and said, “You are the most excellent of men… Gird your sword upon your side, O mighty one; clothe yourself with splendor and majesty.” At this point I’m thinking, “Awesome! This sounds like a true man… what else will they say about him? “In your majesty ride forth victoriously in behalf of truth, humility and righteousness…”

I don’t know about you, but I’m reading along about this mighty warrior riding forth in victory in some big parade with His sword and all that and I’m standing there on the road watching the procession pass by as they say the He rides forth in behalf of Truth, and we all cheer… “Yay!” Righteousness, and we all cheer… “Yay!” and… Humility… and while everyone else is cheering, I’m thinking, “What? Humility? That’s not on my list… How can a mighty warrior be humble? How can a true man put humility in his top three? I mean truth and righteousness yes, but making yourself low? Putting yourself below others?

One time James and John asked Jesus if they could be in God’s top three along with Him… seated on His left and right in heaven. All the other guys got mad at them, but probably not because they had the right priorities, rather because somebody else asked the question they wanted to ask before them… Jesus replied “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:43-45)

Humility is a required ingredient to greatness because God has made the world that way. It was the humility and condescension of God the Son that overturned the Fall, spoiled principalities and powers, defeated sin and conquered death. It seems backwards, but it’s all a part of the way God has ordered this universe… that weakness is strength, the first will be last, wisdom is foolishness and the greatest will serve. Real men are those who make themselves low, look out for others’ needs first and are servants. Humility is a powerful thing and the humble are mighty indeed.

1 comment:

Cody Blair said...

thanks for the call yesterday Lee--great to talk to you. I'll see what I can swing.

12 days my friend, 12 days!

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