The Idol of Cotnrol

Control is nothing short of being an idol; it is a lie, empty in its promises and deep in its consequences. 

Men are taught from a young age to control their emotions and situations in a way that makes true intimate friendships almost impossible to obtain.When they face times of weakness and vulnerability and their own strength fails, who then can they turn to? How can the fix things themselves?

The answer is simple: they control something else. We shouldn't be surprised when young men become enslaved to pornography, drugs, and alcohol, and we certainly shouldn't be shocked that self-mutilation and suicide are on the rise among male adolescents. After all, they can be used as ways to make a guy feel in control of his body and emotions. There are some people enslaved to this world who would choose to point a gun back at themselves and pull the trigger in order to control even the ending of their life. Young men don't know how to ask for help because they are slaves to their own idol of control. 

Truth: we have never been in control of anything and will continue to be a slave to our own delusions until we believe in the one whom all authority in heaven and earth has been given. 

Christian men, are you raising your children in the way that they should go? Are your teaching them the value of humility and meekness? Christ did not come to control, but came from his majesty and gave himself up for us. Have we (speaking as one with great influence upon younger people) pushed this idea of an "alpha male" upon today's adolescents? Have we made ourselves available to listen to the concerns and troubles of their heart? Are we willing to show our own weaknesses and vulnerabilities with them in order to let them know it is healthy? Is our exertions of control hurting our sons and daughters?

"My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness...On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand."

Do you Know?

I read through Hosea during my morning devotions at Promise Camp where I was a counselor. HA! Hosea! What a chump right?! That's what I thought too, but that wouldn't last for long. 

Being a counselor for at risk kids straight from the hood was taxing to say the least. I relied on the Holy Spirit to lead me beside still waters and to restore my soul every morning when I sipped a rather large cup of Joe and prayed my way into another day. During one particularly difficult week, the Lord revealed to me the importance of knowledge. Just like Hosea cried for Israel because of their lack of knowledge in the Lord, so my body and soul cried for the kids I was serving because of their lack of knowledge. But there was a difference between the Israelites and my campers. One had previously known but chose to forget and the other had never heard. 

Evangelism is necessary indeed. Our hearts desire is for the whole world to know The Messiah. But how many followers know who they are following?

It hit me again, this time during a college course on John Calvin. In his book, 'The Institutes of the Christian Religion' , Calvin defines what wisdom is. It is made up of two parts: knowledge of God, and knowledge of self. Many Christians are fine with the first part but mention words like "know yourself" and everybody looses their minds! The more we know about ourselves, the more we understand how wayward, shameful, and short we come to the standards of our God. However, the more we know God, the more we understand how great and fantastic His love and grace truly is! To be honest, I have never felt more joy than when I first understood this concept of knowledge. 

"Prone to wander Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Take my heart, Lord, take and seal it. Seal it for Thy courts above."

Glimpses

I have never tried this before, blogging that is, and have never been a man of great oration or literary skills. Despite the reasons why I shouldn't (Exodus 3-4), the Holy Spirit still works through the hearts of all those who believe in the saving work of Jesus Christ and is able to make sense of unintelligible jargon posted as a blog.

It seems that most of the Christians I meet live not by faith but by glimpses. A glimpse may be a "spiritual high" like an experience at a summer camp, a spirit filled worship service, a community revival, or a youth group retreat. When these events are over, the eyes of the heart close and the soul lives on those moments until the next one comes by. These people I meet do not let the Holy Spirit open up the eyes of their heart to see the constant beauty of the Kingdom of God; a majestic view of God's glory that is ours to experience day after day!

We are to proclaim that the kingdom is now but not yet. The work of Christ is not over; in fact we are to be preparing the world for the fulfillment of Scripture when the Kingdom will be made whole and our Savior Jesus will take back his creation. How can one claim to be a partaker in the Kingdom of God and an imitator  of Christ when he has his eyes closed? How can one fully understand the scope of what Christ has done for us when their hearts are hardened? When you close your eyes, you control how much light comes in and how much information your brain receives. Keeping them open, you see everything that is in front of you. Perhaps then this issue is about control. 'If anyone wants to save his life (an act of control) he must lose it (Matthew 26:25)'.

Lose yourself (as Eminem would say) but not in the music, lose yourself in Christ.