Bearded Gospel Men--1 John 4:7
Day 1
I had no idea that Bearded Gospel Men: The Epic Quest for Manliness and Godliness, by Jared Brock and Aaron Alford is a 31 day devotional for men.
I’m pretty sure that’s too much time to spend with a book that I saw by the cash register at The Mole Hole. 🙂
As cheesy as the premise is (building a whole book out of a meme they started on the internet), I like how each day of the devotional is about some bearded religious guy of note.
Some of the names I’m familiar with–Charles Spurgeon, G.K. Chesterton, and well, Saint Nicholas–but most I am unfamiliar with.
Like Saint Ignatious of Antioch–the 3rd bishop of Antioch sometime around 100 A.D.
And what was his deal?
He was eaten by lions in the Roman coliseum
And really that’s all I need. I’m easy.
Like Jared Brock writes in the introduction–men are not a stellar species:
“Men today are not a stellar species. We do most of the murdering. We commit almost all of the rapes. We wage the wars, commit the felonies, and precipitate the global economic crashes due to our greed and stupidity. What is wrong with us? Seriously–what is so broken inside the male heart that makes us want to dominate, seek, kill, and destroy? The answer, in short, is darkness. We live in the dark. We suffer in silence. We allow our sin to fester.”
I think men do fester. But we act out too. And we are very dangerous when we get organized around a cause. Or a belief. Or a country. Or a faith.
Ask the Iranians or the Gazans about that.
Men, I think, are most dangerous when they are willing to sacrifice their lives. That’s the flip side to our brokenness and our sinfulness that we often subject others to through violence.
We can and will sacrifice our lives for our loved ones. Our beliefs. Our faith.
Ignatius was caught up in a time where Christians were persecuted by the Romans for not bowing down and proclaiming whatever Caesar was in place as God.
Christians won’t worship any other god but God.
So, as the leader of the Christian community in Antioch, the Romans scooped the bearded Ignatius up and shipped him off to Rome for judgment.
It was during this overland trip to his death that Ignatius wrote letters–to the churches in Ephesus, to the churches in Rome, to other bishops
It is in one of those letters from The Epistles of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, that Ignatius touches on the surety of his upcoming death and his willingness to sacrifice himself for God:
“I write to the Churches, and impress on them all, that I shall willingly die for God, unless ye hinder me. I beseech of you not to show an unseasonable good-will towards me. Suffer me to become food for the wild beasts, through whose instrumentality it will be granted me to attain to God. I am the wheat of God, and let me be ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of Christ.”
Do I have that strength? That courage? Would I go to my death for Jesus Christ?
Karen and I talked a little about this yesterday when we tried to buttonhole the WHY of Jesus suffering on the cross and why He felt forsaken by God.
We decided that desolation and pain of impending death is where the MOST hope is for a believer.
Our pain on earth, ghastly and terrible is momentary. Jesus knew He would be separated from God for taking on all of humanity’s sin.
But He knew His pain was temporary.
I think probably Dawn and Dan went through this–the welcoming of pain at the end, knowing that Heaven was in absolute reach.
Maybe that’s why we are called to love as much as we can while we are here.
1 John 4:7 Beloved, let’s love one another; for love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
Being eaten by a lion might be on the most extreme edge of our sacrificial love–but as a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a friend–I can sacrifice for love.
Maybe not my life, but certainly my time and my effort.
Timothy Keller writes in The Meaning of Marriage about being a believer and a lover of Jesus that makes marriage strong:
“At the end of the day, Christ’s love is the great foundation for building a marriage that sings. Some who turn to Christ find that His love comes in like a wave that instantly floods the hard ground of their hearts. Others find that His love comes in gently and gradually, like soft rain or mist. But in any case, the heart becomes like ground watered by Christ’s love, which enables all the forms of love to grow.”
Would I go to the lions like Ignatius for this love?
For the love of Jesus?
I would hope so.
Sacrifice is part of loving another. 🙂
Lord, fill our hearts with Your divine love so that we may reflect Your grace and compassion in all we do.
Lord, teach us to love selflessly, patiently, and without conditions. Guide us to build unity and kindness in our families and communities of friends.
Amen.