I read “Wild at Heart” by John Eldridge this week for the very first time. I’d prefer to refer to this blog as an evaluation rather than a book review because it’s difficult for me to write a book review.
It’s often hard to admit when one’s wrong, but I admit that I was wrong. This book originally came out in 2001 and I avoided reading it for 17 years based on what I had heard from other people based on a stereotype that I was determined that I would never pigeonhole myself into. Hearing statements that Mr. Eldridge disliked Mr. Rogers and other nice people closed my ears into even giving Mr. Eldridge a fair opportunity to share the thoughts in this book with me. Pridefully living as what I considered to be a ‘nice guy’ most of my life (even that moniker has been made known false to me and has been revealed to me as simply selfish pride) I didn’t feel that I would relate to Mr. Eldridge and his teachings.
Now at 43 years of age, I am at a crossroads of sorts as far as masculinity goes and, to be quite frank, needed this book. Mr. Eldridge is not the egotistical male stereotype that I had envisioned him to be. He spoke on subjects that I was yearning to read about, but never came close to finding in my local Christian bookstore. I believe that he truly cares about his readers; in this book he rightly identifies the core issues that men are going through, and is one of the scant few authors I know to have the guts to come out and say them. All I can say, my 141blogger friends, is that you would have to read this book in its entirety to know what I mean.
It is not my goal of this blog to put this man on a pedestal; it is Creator God/Jesus/Counselor Which is the Holy Ghost who deserves all our praise and adoration for His love, grace and mercy. But I do believe that I owe Mr. Eldridge an apology. I wish that I had not closed my heart to this book for all those years without first giving him and it a chance. I was wrong.
With all the other books and vast links on Mr. Eldridge’s ministry page I see I have a lot of catching up to do. I have downloaded his app, and would like to know more. I pray that God will continue to soften my heart as I choose to pursue the narrow road He has beckoned me to take.
Thursday, January 25, 2018
Saturday, January 20, 2018
Double Down
Several years ago I went to KFC and ordered one of their Double Down chicken sandwiches. For those of you who do not know what that is, it is a sandwich which uses two fried chicken breast patties as buns, with the other ingredients in between: mayo, cheese, lettuce, tomato, etc. This sandwich came at at time when one of the nation's major health kicks was underway, and KFC received a lot of scrutiny for being one of the most unhealthy fast food sandwiches that had ever been created, despite it being especially tasty.
Double down, originally used as a blackjack term, has been used especially more frequently as a term given when someone presents a falsehood, then when confronted by people with evidence to the contrary, not only continues in that falsehood, but with even more fervor than before. Jeremiah 44 came to mind recently. After the cities in Israel and Judah were ransacked and the inhabitants of those cities taken from their homes, Jeremiah addressed a remnant of Jews living in the land of Egypt who had been assimilated into Egyptian society, worshiping false gods and burning incense to them. There must have been such sadness when Jeremiah, the man of the true God, spoke to them:
"Why are you destroying yourselves? For not one of you shall live - not a man woman or child among you who has come here from Judah, not even the babies in arms. For you are arousing my anger with the idols you have made and worshiped here in Egypt, burning incense to them causing me to destroy you completely and to make you a curse and a stench in the nostrils of all the nations of the earth. Have you forgotten the sins of your fathers and the sins of the kings and queens of Judah and your own sins and the sins of your wives in Judah and Jerusalem? And even until this very hour there has been no apology; no one has wanted to return to me or follow the laws I gave you and your fathers before you (Jeremiah 44:7-10)"
Again remember, that the cities of the Jewish homeland had already been destroyed, the inhabitants carried away. Jeremiah was giving this remnant a chance to return to the Lord God and be set free. Yet the Bible reports that not one individual came forward to repent, ask for forgiveness or even offer up an apology. Instead the people 'doubled down' in one accord to the man of God:
"We will not listen to your false messages from God! We will do whatever we want to. We will burn incense to the 'Queen of Heaven' and sacrifice to her just as much as we like - just as we and our fathers before us, and our kings and princes have always done in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for in those days we had plenty to eat and we were well off and happy! But ever since we quite burning incense to the 'Queen of Heaven' and stopped worshiping her we have been in great trouble and have been destroyed by sword and famine. (Jeremiah 44:16-18)"
They equated their prosperity to the worship of a false god and their misery to not worshiping her! There were so many false and misleading statements in their response, yet they proclaimed it boldly and rejected the words of the prophet of God. They exchanged the truth for a lie and continued to worship the false gods that were causing God's anger to increase.
Is there anytime where you have 'doubled down' in your life? Is it happening now? Is there anything that has crept into you life that you know is wrong, is a stench in the nostrils of God, yet you still justify? Is there any actions you knew you shouldn't take, even actions that God warned you not to take, yet you still took them? Even if no one else knows about it, God does. Just like the Double Down sandwich is tasty at the time, yet bad for the body, so is a man who's actions may feel good and pleasurable at the time, but whose long-term effects can be devastating.
Double down, originally used as a blackjack term, has been used especially more frequently as a term given when someone presents a falsehood, then when confronted by people with evidence to the contrary, not only continues in that falsehood, but with even more fervor than before. Jeremiah 44 came to mind recently. After the cities in Israel and Judah were ransacked and the inhabitants of those cities taken from their homes, Jeremiah addressed a remnant of Jews living in the land of Egypt who had been assimilated into Egyptian society, worshiping false gods and burning incense to them. There must have been such sadness when Jeremiah, the man of the true God, spoke to them:
"Why are you destroying yourselves? For not one of you shall live - not a man woman or child among you who has come here from Judah, not even the babies in arms. For you are arousing my anger with the idols you have made and worshiped here in Egypt, burning incense to them causing me to destroy you completely and to make you a curse and a stench in the nostrils of all the nations of the earth. Have you forgotten the sins of your fathers and the sins of the kings and queens of Judah and your own sins and the sins of your wives in Judah and Jerusalem? And even until this very hour there has been no apology; no one has wanted to return to me or follow the laws I gave you and your fathers before you (Jeremiah 44:7-10)"
Again remember, that the cities of the Jewish homeland had already been destroyed, the inhabitants carried away. Jeremiah was giving this remnant a chance to return to the Lord God and be set free. Yet the Bible reports that not one individual came forward to repent, ask for forgiveness or even offer up an apology. Instead the people 'doubled down' in one accord to the man of God:
"We will not listen to your false messages from God! We will do whatever we want to. We will burn incense to the 'Queen of Heaven' and sacrifice to her just as much as we like - just as we and our fathers before us, and our kings and princes have always done in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for in those days we had plenty to eat and we were well off and happy! But ever since we quite burning incense to the 'Queen of Heaven' and stopped worshiping her we have been in great trouble and have been destroyed by sword and famine. (Jeremiah 44:16-18)"
They equated their prosperity to the worship of a false god and their misery to not worshiping her! There were so many false and misleading statements in their response, yet they proclaimed it boldly and rejected the words of the prophet of God. They exchanged the truth for a lie and continued to worship the false gods that were causing God's anger to increase.
Is there anytime where you have 'doubled down' in your life? Is it happening now? Is there anything that has crept into you life that you know is wrong, is a stench in the nostrils of God, yet you still justify? Is there any actions you knew you shouldn't take, even actions that God warned you not to take, yet you still took them? Even if no one else knows about it, God does. Just like the Double Down sandwich is tasty at the time, yet bad for the body, so is a man who's actions may feel good and pleasurable at the time, but whose long-term effects can be devastating.
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