26 May 2024
Men must rule, but they must first rule themselves.
Western men generally botch this. If all we had to go on were western traditions, we would remain wholly damned with no redemption in sight. The western concepts of reigning are detestable in God's sight.
Men must absorb the lessons of the Good Shepherd. Good shepherds are ever ready to sacrifice themselves for the flock. They exist as God's agents to lead and cover His sheep. Even when the sheep act unsheepishly, we must regard them as a trust from the hand of God. To be chosen for the role of shepherd is inherently sacrificial; you are doomed. However, to be called of God to any task is the best you can hope for, so you must face it with joy and gratitude.
True to the type, I would give anything to transmit this to others. American men are sheep who have no clue how to reign. If we could establish this type in the minds of just a few, it would change everything. This transcends all cultures; it is the image of Christ Himself, as He painted it: "The good shepherd gives his life for the flock."
It was never a question of being the man as an individual. It's always been the flock, the covenant household of faith. To some degree, it covers the whole community, covenant or not. You must assert the covenant frame and build on the terrain where God places you. It's rather like the principle in the Law of Moses on being kind to aliens in the land.
We are asserting an order, a frame of reference that is not rooted in this world. The average human will respond instinctively, recognizing something in our presence that is sorely missing in the world.
Yesterday, as I was riding in a private auto with someone else, we stopped to refuel. One of the pumps had been tampered with; someone had managed to shift the electronic functioning over to a kind of maintenance mode. It's a way to get free fuel, using a test mode that does not register inside. I made it a point to inform the clerk behind the counter. It had nothing to do with gaining proper customer service; my concern was the property of someone else who had done me no wrong. I was seeking the stability of society as a whole.
This is not to boast, but to demonstrate the underlying vision here. It won't matter how futile it might be; the issue is that we stand for the truth. Not merely the material losses, but I was seeking to bless everyone by keeping things working as expected. Jesus didn't break off a folded reed, according to Isaiah's prophecy. He didn't cry out in the streets for some kind of imaginary justice, some kind of broad social or political reform. Rather, He simply stood for what was right in the given context.
Be that man. Be the man who watches out for everyone. Yes, there will be times and places when it's worst than futile, when people will interpret it as a hostile act. But you have your heart; you have a reliable sensory organ that knows when and where God is moving. You can choose to know and do His will.
This is the kind of manhood that will be standing ready when apocalypse comes.
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