"My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius; Commander of the Armies of the North; General of the Felix Legions; loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius; father to a murdered son; husband to a murdered wife; and I will have my vengeance, in this life or in the next."
That is perhaps the greatest line from any movie ever. I haven't met a guy yet who doesn't love it. I had one friend in college who actually took a name tag and below "Hi my name is..." wrote that line. Men love the movie Gladiator, and more specifically this line, because it is a man who knows he is a man. He knows who he is, and he knows he has what it takes. That is what every man wants.
"A man needs to know his name. He needs to know he's got what it takes. And I don't mean 'know' in the modernistic, rationalistic sense... I mean a deep knowing, the kind of knowing that comes when you have been there, entered in, experienced first hand in an unforgettable way."
Maximus knows his name, and he shares it with confidence when asked. Every man wants to be able to do that. But I don't know of many who can. Honestly, I don't know that I can. "Where does a man go to learn an answer like that - to learn his true name, a name that can never be taken from him?" That answer only comes from initiation.
Initiation is essential, and it's something that we need desperately to get back. Initiation teaches a man where he's come from. In it he has faced trials that test him, and has overcome them. It is a journey, and somewhere along the way he has faced his enemy. As I read those words my mind went to 1 John 2,"I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one." (verses 12-14)
The journey begins with forgiveness, there is struggle along it, and at the end is such intimacy with God and with that intimacy comes the answer every man desires to give. John points out the the Church has boiled initiation down to making moral men, "Morality is a good thing, but morality is never the point." Simply learning to be moral isn't what we want or desire as men. Morality comes from our strength, a man is moral, but a man is created to be so much more. Initiation isn't necessary for morality, but it is essential for a boy to become a man.
"Despite a man's past and the failures of his own father to initiate him, God could take him on that journey, provide what was missing." Many of us have never been initiated into manhood. For one reason or another we have been left to fend for ourselves. We don't have the answer we so desperately want, but let me encourage you, it is possible to find it. God remains committed to initiating men.
This chapter, so far this time around, has spoken to me the most. I'm still processing a lot that has gone on this week, there has been some discouragement, the desire to give up, and then at the same time the motivation to keep going. It hasn't been easy but two things have been on my mind. The first is a verse from Ephesians 3, "Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen." which I will add at the closing of each post as a reminder to each of us that God can and will lead us into all that He created us to be. And the second is the song "10,000 Reasons" by Matt Redman.
I want to see God do far more in my life than I have ever thought possible. He will do more than I could ever ask so I must not hesitate to ask God to work in me, to mold me into the likeness of Christ, and to make me the Man of God that He created me to be. And no matter what I face, I want to praise Him. This journey of initiation is not an easy one, but it is worth it. And God is leading me every step of the way. And beyond that, we are on this journey together, so let us praise Him together.
"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen." Ephesians 3.20-21
To God alone be the Glory!
Strength and Honor
No comments:
Post a Comment