Sunday 22 March 2009

What is a man for?

(from a fantastic book 'Wild at Heart' by John Eldredge for all you frustrated guys and all you girls who want to understand us guys better)

What is a man for? If you know what something is designed to do, then you know its purpose in life. A retriever loves the water, a lion loves to hunt, a hawk loves to soar. It's what they're made for. Desire reveals design, and design reveals destiny. In the case of humans beings, our design is also revealed by our desires. Let's take adventure. God gives Adam and all his sons after him an incredible mission: rule and subdue, be fruitful and multiply. This is permission to do a heck of a lot more than cross the street. Most men think they are simply here on earth to kill time- and it's killing them. But the truth is precisely the opposite. The secret longing of your heart, whether it's to build a boat and sail it, to write a symphony and play it, to plant a field and care for it- those are the things you were made to do. Explore, build, conquer- you don't have to tell a boy to do those things for the simple reason that it is his purpose. But it's going to take risk, and danger, and there's the catch. Are we willing to live with the level of risk God invites us to?
Let's take another desire- why does a man long for a battle to fight? Because when we enter the story at the beginning of time in Genesis, we step into a world at war. The lines have already been drawn. Evil is waiting to make its next move. Man is not born into a sitcom or a soap opera, he is born into a world at war. This is not Home Improvement, it's Saving Private Ryan. There will be many, many battles to fight on many different battlefields.
And finally, why does Adam long for a beauty to rescue? Because there is Eve. He is going to need her, and she is going to need him. While the serpent is tempting Eve, Adam is standing right there: "She also gave some to her husband, who was with her. Then he ate it too" Genesis 3:6 NLT. What does he do? Nothing. He says not a word, doesn't lift a finger. He won't risk, he won't fight, and he won't rescue Eve. Our first father gave in to paralysis. He denied his very nature and went passive. And every man after him carries in his heart now the same failure. Every man repeats the sin of Adam, every day. We won't risk, we won't fight, and we won't rescue Eve. We truly are a chip off the old block.
What did Adam do? He hides. We are hiding every last one of us. Well aware that we, too, are not what we were meant to be. We hide in our office, at the gym, behind the newspaper and mostly behind our personality.

God used this book to highlight things that needed changing in my life and help me down the road to the destiny he has for me and if he can do it for me... He can do it for you!!!!

2 comments:

  1. hey, cool blog, we got this book of Mandy and David is goin to read it and then ill read it. it sounds like a really inspiring book...

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  2. John Eldredge is one of my favourite authors!!! I love his openness and honesty. I'm reading his book 'Walking with God' at the moment and I urge everyone in the whole earth to read it!!! It has challenged me so much! Hope you are reading my blog too!!!!! NicNac x

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