to live simply...or what?

Just had a conversation the other day with a guy who said his father, as the result of spiritual compunction over the evils of society, sold everything he had and moved to a spot of land where he could build his own residence (no really build his own not just "have" it built) and did so.  It was 2 or 3 years before the family had electricity.  The friend with whom I was talking reminisced of the care of his neighbors, the warmth of community and fun he had growing up in that environment.

Apparently, several families eventually did this and were very happy and fulfilled to be living simply and living in community on this plot of land.  While I look at the mental picture of this situation, I am struck both with the evident simplicity of that life, and the hurdle of getting there.  I don't just mean the incredible difficulty of the task of achieving closure of all of the open areas of my life, but also of managing to tease apart my rich life and divide up the wants, wishes, desires, and needs of living at this speed, and filter them into those needs I would have living there in that place.  For instance, if I am hungry now, I whip out my plastic (Debit, not Credit, thank you, Dave Ramsey) and buy a fairly healthy sandwich at Jason's Deli.  Then, I would have to either grow or barter for flour of some sort, meat of some sort, legumes and or vegetables of some sort.  Would I dig a water well, or live on someone's farm on the edge of the city to get water and sewer service? ... Hmm, ... push a pin right there for a moment...

Now, more recently even, I had a conversation with a fellow believer who attends a sister congregation in the area. We were talking of how our fellowship (and all religious bodies of people, as far as I can tell) tends to hone in on one or two really important issues that we seem not to budge on, regardless of what else occurs.  Then we are willing to compromise on so many other things that seem to have weight assigned to them in the Word.  We will sacrifice our children to this world by subjecting them to the wide-screen baby sitter and teachers at school we have no real relationship with,  We allow them to play with kids who (due to no fault of their own, at this point) exhibit behaviors so immoral that cable TV wouldn't show them without a disclaimer. Then, we condemn (or at least alienate) some "other" for not being baptized in the way we understand to be most correct... and feel righteously bold that we had enough guts to stand up for the TRUTH.  [Lord, forgive me, please]

Suddenly, adopting a gracious yet, severely reserved life abounds in attraction to me...I don't know about you...

 

God Bless

More thoughts on manhood

After a discussion with a mentor earlier today (which was after a men's prayer lunch), my thoughts have yet, again, turned toward manhood and how this "state of existence" relates to our eternal pursuits.  As posted before, a close group of fellows have hashed out (that is, an attempt has been made to hash out) just what being a Christian man should hinge on. 

The comment to me after the lunch had to do with how much emphasis we do or don't put on the "masculine" and "warrior" aspects of manhood in Christ and how do you balance emphasizing masculinity and the servant heart of Christ. 

A friend and brother replied to my last post on manhood with a definition that means quite a bit to him, personally.  The definition goes like this (it is from Tender Warrior, I believe).  A Real Man is one who

-rejects passivity

-accepts responsibility

-leads courageously, and

-expects the greater reward

 

As far as definitions go, that is a good one, I think.  But, how do you flesh that out like Jesus did?

I now have just read an article in Discipleship Journal about "taking holiness to work".  It shed some light on this subject for me.  The author in this article wrote that we should be"more anxious to give others their rights than to insist upon our own,... prefer infinitely to be the victims of injustice than to be unjust ourselves" and, "...a holy person would a thousand times rather suffer wrong than do wrong.  He watches carefully lest others be the losers through his fault.  He never takes advantage of the ignorance of another."

That may not speak to others the way it spoke to me.  But, somehow, THAT, to me, is the kind of thing that defines biblical masculinity.  The somewhat confusing thing is that it also describes biblical femininity, because it describes biblical Christianity.  Maybe the question isn't what is man-like or woman-like, but what is Christ-like.  Because what is Christ-like defies division between gender, or else, Christ died for men only...? 

 

That's all for now...sometimes the best answer..is more questions...