Tags
Christ Jesus, Christlikeness, godly man, good husband, Kenya, longsuffering, Maai Mahiu, merciful, presumption, rebellion, repentance, servant leader
As I read again the article Wrong Messiah that I wrote back in November, I sensed it needed another note, another layer to be added that makes it more complete. I thank God for the man who stood that Tuesday in Maai Mahiu, Kenya where we gathered under the gazebo, with the stew and rice cooking nearby, with the cool morning air still lingering. He stood and said what everyone else in the room, young and old, was thinking but was afraid to say. He’s probably sorry he was courageous enough to speak it out loud, but he shouldn’t be and I am not and I hope everyone else in that place was as pleased as I was that he spoke. He asked a simple question that every man who has been obedient enough to the Word of God to actually DO what I laid out in the first article. He asked,
“What happens if you do this servant stuff and your wife takes advantage of your vulnerability and tramples on your kindness?”
This was an informal question and answer time and there was no one designated to answer any particular question. I knew the weight was on me to answer because I had given the message that provoked the question. Even as he spoke and gently asked for help, my mind and heart were quickened with exactly the words I was to speak first. And those words cleared the cloud in the room in a split second and brought a perspective that I don’t think any of us was ready for, although I had a few seconds head-start.
I gave a quick look to my brother Kelly and asked if I should speak, then i stood and for what seemed like a very long time I let the question echo in that place and in our hearts. Then, as best I could with tears streaming down my cheeks and my heart in my throat, I sputtered out these choking words: “Now you know how God feels.”
All the way back to the garden we see it. A gracious, loving God risking it all by giving Adam that bit of something that He enjoys in infinitude: freedom. For without it we are just machines, wind-up toys that the toymaker creates for his enjoyment that does exactly as its mechanism employs. But God didn’t want machines, He wanted a creature, made in His likeness, that would bring Him glory and worship, a creature He would one day receive back to Himself, perhaps to replace the third of heaven that fell in rebellion. But to get the glory He desired, He must risk that same rebellion. To get the true, loving trust that He desires, He must risk creating a monster of iniquity.
All the way through those first books we see the very people whom He lovingly chose out from among others, those same people turning away from Him and whoring after other things. Always complaining, always taking advantage of His kindness and mercy, always putting God to the test instead of seeing that it was THEY who were being tested. Then God would lovingly bring judgment upon them and they would turn back to Him, only to turn away again after the pressure of the judgment was passed. He started over with Noah and his sons, and almost started over with Moses twice, but more times than not we see a grieving Father rather than a wrathful judge.
All the way through the prophets we see the presumption of a people who took great pride in being the chosen ones, Abraham’s children, who acted more like the devil’s children. We see stiff-necked rebels who will not have One to reign over them, throwing off the yoke that they were created to wear and taking on the yoke that is not easy and makes the burden unbearable. We see a God who lovingly brings them under humiliating bondage in order to cause the people to cry out to Him. We see His own people killing the prophets He would send to bring the message of metanoia.
From the beginning, we have trampled underfoot the goodness and kindness and longsuffering of God. If you give your life to Him and serve Him, do you think you will see something different? Is the servant greater than his master? “If they hated Me, will they somehow love you?”, Jesus asks. Every husband that dedicates himself to serving God above all else, the supreme choice, the ultimate intention, every one will come to know how God feels. The question is: now what? Quit? Try some other manipulative means to get what you want?
I urge you, men, i urge you to not turn away. Love them, love your women when they take advantage, love them when they take no regard for you, love them when you are not appreciated, love them when you are mocked. Turn your face to God and plead for your woman that He might show her the mercy He shows you. Lay your life down, lay your own sin down, lay your pride down. Ask God to give you a hatred of sin and a love supremely for Him that you might be filled with His Spirit. Then you will be merciful to her and kind and strong enough to love her in spite of all the hurt. Turn your face to God and admit your weakness and your desire to condemn. Your words are not adequate; let Him give you the words to say.
I ended my answer that day with this: do you serve God for His own good pleasure or do you serve Him with a result in mind for yourself? The first is godliness, the second is idolatry. Being a husband after God’s own heart is pleasing to God and THAT is the only result we should keep in mind, “fixing our eyes on Christ Jesus, the author and completer of faith.” Doing a little serving for a little while so that you can reap a harvest of her serving you is a very bad distortion and corruption of servanthood. That God might be pleased – that is the “why”, and that will keep you facing the right direction.
Yes, now you know how God feels. Now imagine you are NOT the fallen creature in a fallen world that you are. Imagine you are a thrice-holy, uncreated, infinitely perfect God. How amazing is His love towards us now? How incredible is His act of bankrupting heaven to send His Son, His only begotten Son, to endure the wrath that rightly should fall on you and me? What kind of Father is this that we serve? What kind of Lord and master is this Son of God, worthy to receive our worship? Oh, we praise you God for Your longsuffering with us and Your mercies that are new every morning.
Make us into men that look like Your Son, O God, and do it quickly, I pray.