Manliness as Soft & Tender?

What is manliness? What is manhood?

A friend of mine recently gave me his copy of Fathered by God, by John Eldridge. Have you ever received a book half marked up and underlined, with an abrupt end to the markings? If you have, you know the special privilege of receiving a book from someone while they are still in the middle of reading it themselves. If you’ve ever given a book away like that, you know the sacrifice parting with your beloved copy containing all of your meaningful notes and markers. When you receive a book like that, you know one thing: if it meant that much to the giver, such that they would abandon their personal copy in the middle of reading so that you could have it, you know that you need to begin reading it right away.

And so I have recently begun reading Fathered by God, which has been both very instructional and very enjoyable. As I was reading tonight, I came across this passage:

“ ‘Oh! Ephraim is my dear, dear son, my child in whom I take pleasure! Every time I mention his name, my heart bursts with longing for him! Everything in me cries out for him. Softly and tenderly I wait for him. (Jer 31:20 MSG)’

Put your own name in this verse, in place of “Ephraim” (a name for God’s people, and that includes you).”

As I put my name in place of Ephraim, the verse really does come alive. So much so, that at the end of the verse, I didn’t get a warm-fuzzy feeling…instead, I found myself saying, “That just doesn’t sound very manly.”

Now, these are God’s words to His beloved children—if there is any conception of manliness as we understand it that is good, God certainly is the source! Therefore, these words aren’t just manly; they are above and beyond manly! Yet, I found myself a little uncomfortable with being told “softly and tenderly I wait for [you]” by my Father God.

And that’s when I was convicted of how far off-center my personal view of manliness has been warped. That is when I realized the answer to the question, “What is true manliness?”

Gen 1:26 – “God said, let us make man in our image…”

If man is made in the image of God, then true manliness is “image-of-God-liness.” True manhood is “image-of-God-hood.” When we as a culture and individuals stop looking to other men to define manhood and manliness and instead look to the pursuit of God, then and only then will we as a culture and individuals lay hold of what it truly means to be a man.

And so, what is manliness? True manliness, as we were created to be, is nothing other than the character of God. If man is created in the image of God, then the character of God seen in men would be the image of true manliness. And so the question of "what is manliness?" is answered by the character traits of God. God is Good. God is Just. God is Strong. God is Tenderhearted. God is Full of Grace. God is Steadfast. God is Faithful. God is Love. You, my fellow man, were created to be all of these things, too.

So man-up and receive the love of your Father God who “softly and tenderly” waits for you. Reject that part of you that says, “that doesn’t sound manly” and embrace it as the only true manhood. I pray that we both live up to our image-of-God-liness legacy, passed down from our Father God, such that we, too can one day say to our sons, “softly and tenderly I wait for you. I love you.” Amen.

Obeying His Call: The Fullness of the Life of Christ

Matt 10:16-32 – “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. 17 But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. 18 You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; 20 for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. 21 “Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. 22 And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. 23 When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes. 24 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household! 26 Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. 27 “Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. 28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. 32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.” 

“The power which men enjoy for a brief space on earth is not without the cognizance and the will of God. If we fall into the hands of men, and meet suffering and death from their violence, we are none the less certain that everything comes from God. The same God who sees no sparrow fall to the ground without his knowledge and will, allows nothing to happen, except it be good and profitable for his children and the cause for which they stand. We are in God’s hands. Therefore, “Fear not.”” – Bonhoeffer, “The Cost of Discipleship,” Ch 25, “The Decision.” (commenting on Matt 10) 


If you are a child of God’s, kept in the Spirit of Christ, you come to no longer fear making wrong steps along your path.  Instead, your only fear becomes the fear of the Lord in denying Christ. Your path is simple: proclaim the life of Christ everywhere you go…that is, the life of Christ Himself, the life of Christ in you, and the life in Christ available for all men who repent and call on Him for salvation. The “everywhere you go,” is less important than proclaiming Him wherever you happen to go. Some go here, some go there, and God will direct. We often get all worked up about which direction to go, taking long periods of time and expending tremendous mental and emotional energy, such that we might walk rightly with God in obedience in the physical places we go and things we do on earth…meanwhile, we give no thought to the fact that wherever we chose or felt led to go, we did not proclaim Christ. The disobedience is in failing to proclaim Christ. What if we spent as much mental energy and dedication to obedience of our Lord simply on proclaiming Him everywhere we went, spending less on where God might want us to go and be? Only then would we have apportioned our seeking of His will and our obedience properly to what matters most. It is as if we are an athlete on the basketball court, trying to decide whether to go right or left…there is likely a best choice, but it is unclear…if we spend our time and energy (there is precious little time and energy on the field of play and in the span of our lives!) determining which way to go, and even choosing well, but we fail to even shoot the ball, have we done well? Certainly not. Too often, we design plays, we seek to be the wisest in our choice of plays and execution of the plays, and then we never even engage in the whole purpose of the play…in basketball, the purpose was to score a bucket, and with the Lord it was to first draw near to Him and second proclaim the life of Christ WHEREVER we go. It is time for us as individual believers to alter our focus in seeking the Lord, looking less for direction for our specific lives (afterall, that is easily selfish in nature), and more to simply be obedient to the call of our Lord WHEREVER we might end up going. Meanwhile, a single sparrow does not fall to the ground without both His knowing and willing, and even the hairs on our head are numbered by our Lord. That’s right, every morning God takes an inventory on even the number of hairs on your head. How much more will He be absolutely present and sovereign in decisions that will alter our lives?! The liberating truth is that we cannot misstep for long if we will obediently proclaim the life of Christ wherever we go, for in proclaiming Christ, what was once a misstep becomes the work of the Kingdom; and living by obedience produced by faith, our hearts will be continually united in Christ. This sounds so simple and easy because it is part of the source of Jesus proclamation that “my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt 11:30). Conversely, as simple and easy as the yoke of Christ is, disobedience to the life of Christ is its proportional opposite, being utterly confounding and impossibly difficult. 


I speak somewhat boldly about this because I have been the self-centered, path-focused believer that I described above. And I am convicted that if I spent half as much fervency in prayer and intentional living to simply obey the Lord WHEREVER I go, proclaiming the life of Christ (that is, equally proclaiming verbally and in living as Christ in both the mundane and exceptional things), my struggle of obedience would not only be more victorious, but I would experience the truth that my Savior’s “yoke is easy” and His “burden is light.” 


When we have been confronted with this liberating truth, the crux of the matter becomes simply obedience to the life of Christ. If we know that when we walk in obedience to the life of Christ WHEREVER we go, we are aligned with Him, whichever path we might have taken originally, then we must simply understand and obey the life of Christ. Therefore, we must spend more time exploring what the life of Christ means in you and me. 


As a sinner, obedience to the life of Christ is first repentance. If we do 100 works of kindness and self-sacrifice daily, ministering to the hungry, needy, and defenseless, but we have not confessed our sin to the Lord, we are not walking in the life of Christ. After confessing our sin, obedience to the life of Christ is in asking Him to replace that sinful nature with Himself. His reply to our pure cry for salvation is that we would “take up our cross daily and follow [Him]” (Luke 9:23). This means that the next step in living the life of Christ is in utterly crucifying my old self, my old life, my entire identity. If any portion of my identity prior to Christ lives on, I have yet to experience the fullness of the life of Christ in me, no matter how noble or moral that old identity may seem. After crucifying our old identities and the sin we were slaves to, obedience to the life of Christ is then surrender to the Spirit of Christ to reign in us. This surrender can only accompany and follow repentance and the crucifying of the old self, or we would still be holding on, if only slightly, to the old self, which is mutually exclusive to surrender. Finally, when we have surrendered and beckoned our Lord’s Spirit to have total dominion over us—our minds, hearts, souls, and lives—obedience to the life of Christ is made manifest in our actions, as we both proclaim verbally the life of Christ wherever we go, and we walk in the Spirit of Christ, abundantly loving in action whomever we come across. We do this as an outpour of the life of Christ within us—it is Christ Himself who is living in action, for “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20). In awe of His grace to give us life for certain death, we then live a life bestowing grace to all who will receive it in Christ. In all of this, there was no mention of how to serve, what action to take, on whom to bestow grace, or where we would live the life of Christ. That is because the when and where are not central—the life of Christ is central and everything else is periphery. And yet, our sovereign God who counts every hair on our heads every morning, is faithful to allow and will only what is profitable for His saints and His Kingdom, down to the minute detail. With that understanding, we can trust Him to guide us and not fear bad decisions of where we might minister, work, play, or live…but instead spend our days and nights praising our gracious Lord and living the life of Christ wherever we might walk. 


Challenge: Tomorrow, when you wake up in the morning, take a moment to pray and consider what obedience to the life of Christ in you means. Consider not where you will go, but instead consider that wherever you end up going, you will obediently live out the life of Christ to every single individual you encounter, as well as alone before God. This becomes a worshipful life lived in spirit, action, and truth. A life of humility and diminished self-thought. A life of surrender and without fear of any earthly thing. This becomes a life of supreme joy and purpose, a life of purified love and kindness, where grace abounds, both given and received. Grace received by you from God, given by you to your fellow man. You may be ridiculed and defamed, you may be physically beaten or even killed, all the while you will be able to say “it is well with my soul” for your soul rests in the grace, promise, and eternal certainty of the life of Christ. You may be highly esteemed and praised, you may be successful and world-changing, all the while you will stand in humility saying “I must decrease, He must increase” (John 3:30) for your identity rests in the life of Christ alone. I pray that you and I will walk in the life of Christ so simply, so powerfully, in such liberty this very day. Amen.

Flesh and Spirit: Evidence of a Raging War

This is meant to be a partial examination of the war between the flesh and the Spirit, and I hope that at a minimum it leads you to ask deep questions of yourself and of God, and to search the Word for those answers.

(Written Saturday)

Today was softball day with my Sunday School class.  We play in a league through our church and have a great time, win or lose.  After every game, we always go somewhere to eat lunch together.  At lunch today, a few of my friends and teammates engaged in a conversation that accidentally drove to the heart of the war between flesh and Spirit.

One of my teammates had gotten upset during the game and thrown the bat in frustration at the fence…a seemingly benign outlet of less-than-controlled anger; however, unfortunately, the bat came a little too close for comfort to an opposing player.  The throwing of the bat was quite intentional...it being anywhere near another human being, quite unintentional.  Nevertheless, he had to leave the game and was full of godly conviction immediately after the incident, seeking out the opposing players, officials, and all of our team to own up to his mistake and apologize.  It was great to see everyone forgive and restore him immediately, and I love my brother in Christ today more than ever.

Later at lunch, one of my friends mentioned the scriptural truth that “out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks” (Matt 12:34, Luke 6:45), asserting that whatever things he or anyone utters is a direct reflection of what is inside of us.  We may not want the ugliness of sin to be inside of us, but our mouths give us away.  He therefore concluded that when people say, “I didn’t mean that,” when referring to an action or word spoken, they are incorrect…for in the moment, they did mean it, for their heart meant it, because out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.  Interesting train of thought that I could neither reject, nor wholly accept.  And my response erked me slightly and made me perk up and search deeper as to why.  Additionally, my teammate who had thrown the bat used his experience from a couple hours earlier to counter the argument, asserting that he by no means meant to hit the opposing player or to throw the bat whatsoever in any display of anger.  He found within himself, in that situation or any other, that the person he believes himself to be is not in tune with those actions and therefore, he could say accurately, “I didn’t mean that,” when referring to an action or word spoken…the opposite contention of my other friend.

As we debated and chimed in, never reaching a satisfying conclusion, it dawned on me that the Word of God speaks exactly to this point.  It is found in Rom 7 and 8, and it must be read slowly, hanging on every word and clause, in order to understand clearly (at least for me, reading it quickly easily leads to getting a little lost and running in a circle):

Rom 7:15-23 - “For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. 16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.”

In this passage, Paul stunningly and transparently reveals his own personal struggle with sin, an ever present battle, a violently raging war within him.  If this is true of Paul, is it not also true of us and anyone who calls Christ Lord and Savior, being indwelled by the Holy Spirit?

In this passage, I do not want to miss many of the critical truths.  Firstly, Paul astutely recognizes something within him at his core that agrees with God in good (v. 16).  Secondly, he quickly claims this part of him to be his truest self, asserting that it is not him in his truest identity that carries out the sinful act, but instead the sin that dwells within him carries it out (v. 17).  Next, he mentions that the portion of him that is flesh contains nothing good, and that it is distinctively and utterly separate from the part of him that is good, which is the ability “to will” anything contrary to that corrupted flesh (v. 18).  Also, in v. 18, he concedes that within this conflict, he finds no solution on how to conquer the flesh with the will and do what he knows is good, of God, and his deepest desire. 

Going further, verse 21 is perhaps the most insightful because of its careful construction.  Mentioned first is a law…that evil is present within him—the one who wills to do good.  Notice that in this construction, the one who wills to do good is the self.  He has identified and separated his truest self as the part of him that wills to do good, and the evil portion (the flesh) as the imposter, residing simultaneously, but being the counterfeit “self,” and therefore not the self at all.  He reveals next that the “inward man” is his true identity (v. 22), the portion that delights in the law of God.  And finally, the “members”—that is, the flesh—is at war with the “mind”—that is, the inward man, the true identity—and that he is in a certain captivity to this struggle for the time being.

Within this complex communication of ideas is an overwhelming and unmistakable truth: we carry within us as humans on earth, this side of Heaven, warring identities—the flesh versus the Spirit.  Only in the assertion that I am a complex being—made up of multiple parts, distinctively and utterly separate from each other, yet intertwined…flesh and Spirit—only in this view of myself can I claim all that Paul has claimed here.  And once we have fully embraced this truth, we can easily see why both contentions of my friends are true in a sense: “out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks,” and when my mouth speaks sin it is because I myself have fallen to the evil that resides “in my members,” but also “I didn’t mean that” because the truest meaning of the word “I” is my real identity, which is in Christ and the Holy Spirit alone.

Please do not misunderstand me: this is not a cop-out.  “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (Rom 6:1b-2)  The point of all of this is to come to realization of 1. Our true identity as Christ followers is Him alone, made possible by Him alone, and therefore “there is no condemnation” for those of us who are His, and 2. We are being attacked, invaded, and even overwhelmed on a daily basis and therefore, we must fight actively against this law of evil within our present bodies.

Finally, lest we become discouraged, we are affirmed again in chapter 8 of victory and our unassailable identities in the Spirit of Christ, our Lord.  And the power of the passage and exclamation point is what follows next:

Rom 7:24-8:2 – “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! 

8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”

We would be right to conclude that Paul has revealed that we can easily lose this war and that as long as we live, we will fight it.  Additionally, according to v. 18, we are powerless to be victorious at all in our own strength.  But as we read on in this passage as we have done and hold it up in the light of the Word in its entirety, we see much more clearly that we are “more than conquerors” in Christ (Rom 8:37). 

As long as you and I live on this earth and not in Heaven, we will never cease for evil to reside side-by-side with the Spirit within us, a conflict so violent that without the hand of God to hold us together, it would tear us into a million pieces.  Thus we feel the tension, the conflict, making us cry out in anguish as we sin yet again…and we even have a hard time knowing if we are truly evil or good.  Ah, but the Word is equally as clear about the final outcome, for we know that the law of the Spirit is stronger than the law of evil in the flesh. 

Rom 8:9-11 – “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

Until our flesh has died and raised up again in Jesus Christ, that flesh will war against the Spirit.  But that’s just it: “Until!”  For the “Until” is not yet present, but is presently coming!  We are assured of victory!  Only because Christ has been raised after death, his flesh united with Spirit as the firstfruits of all to come who believe in Him (1 Cor 15:20,23)…only in that do we have hope of being raised to eternal life.  For in this living body, the war rages, the law of evil within me fights on…but in death of the body, yet alive in the Spirit, we have the assured hope of resurrection to eternal life, a plainly asserted claim of truth in v. 11 of chapter 8.

I hope that through this study, you are encouraged of your true identity if you call Jesus Lord and Savior.  Your identity is the Holy Spirit within you.  Your enemy is the evil that resides in your flesh.  And every day you live in the fiercest battle zone taking direct hits, for we have willingly accepted this battle by receiving a new identity in Christ.  Before knowing Christ and receiving the indwelling Spirit, we had a single, fleshly identity, being fully captive to evil.  But upon receiving Christ in the Spirit, we have immediately declared civil war on the flesh, to the death.  And in this, we have been assured victory at the completion of our lives, such that in final death, we are given full eternal life, according to the covenant promise of our Father God through Christ.  If you believe this, you have already won; though you must still fight the raging battle to the day of your death and wonderful entry into the eternal rest and peace of Heaven.  May we each embrace these truths and be transformed by the renewing of our minds this very day (Rom 12:1).  Amen.

Guest Post - Re: The Power of Proper Identity: Ministers of Reconciliation

A dear friend of mine responded to my latest blog post titled, "The Power of Proper Identity: Ministers of Reconciliation" with some very insightful and edifying assertions. With this friend's permission, I cannot help but share, as I enjoy and value the perspectives offered in this reply:

"I agree that the calling is to Christ Himself, because the relationship is more important than the roles we play. So often we seek to establish ourselves in a business relationship with God, instead of a personal one. We strive hard to be servants when God has called us to be sons.

In being sons, the ultimate thing is the love and intimacy we share with Christ. Since we share in His kingdom, we share in His kingdom's work. The scripture seems to discourage segregating this work into higher vs. lower within the kingdom because, after all, the highest is the least servant in God's kingdom. Philippians does talk about the high calling, but never the higher calling.

The term "higher calling" has been used to distinguish those who are following a specific calling with the organized church or full time mission effort. When I say full time mission, not to be stuck on semantics, I mean one whose life activities are not fungible in the securlar market place. His economic needs must be subsidized by others of the "lower" calling (so to speak in keeping with the topic). So, in this sense, I would agree we would be off-base to say one Christian has a "higher calling" because he does not have a day job.

But the status of being supported by the Christian community is Biblical, and is a specific calling, albeit not higher. Those in that role tend to be held to a "higher" standard, which is also Biblical. Of course we are all held to the same standard which is the Word, but Biblicially speaking leaders of the church throughought the Bible have been expected to demonstrate exceptional holiness as they naturally become leaders. In being in this office it can be said that we "follow them" as they follow Christ. It is in this sense that the "higher" terminology would gain some historical basis - but I would agree that it still is inaccurate.

The secular perspective says jobs are to produce products, and the "better" we are, by worldy standards, the more products we produce. In that lifestyle, if I were to "do my best," I would always be trying to maximize my competitiveness and success would be measured in magnitude.

The Word says, the kingdom of God is like a treasure someone found in a field, burried it, went and sold all he had, and bought the field. If I won the lottery, my paycheck would diminish as an important factor to me. In the secular sense, my paycheck is my master - because its presence commands my obedience (speaking in worldly perspective). If I were to become a millionaire, it would no longer have any meaning for me. My paycheck would decrease, and the need to enjoy my work would increase. Similarly, when we are saved, we are set free from the shackles of status, the need to produce. We now do those things because we enjoy them.

Some may try to correct me there and say "because we serve Jesus." But serving Jesus is joy. We continue to do what we are good at because of joy, nothing else. God knows who he gave a good voice to, a quick body, a bright mind...we use those gifts out of joy. When your future is secure, your present takes on a new identity. The law, no longer our master, fades as the love and joy of Jesus fills our lives. God lacks nothing, yet he intervenes to save the needy. Why? Because he is so full of joy, it is overflowing. He is so full of love, it is overflowing. His actions are a result of His love and joy.

When you are full of fear and hate and bitterness, you seek to share it. When you are full of love, joy, and peace,you share that too. And when you get grafted into the vine that is love, joy, and peace.....you can't help it. That becomes who you are.

Being a Christian is being free from status. What would it matter if I exchanged one activity I enjoyed for one I will enjoy even more? This would be the case for a Christian transitioning from engineering to full time missions. I believe a man I greatly respect once said, missions exist because worship doesn't. Worship is the goal of the church, not missions. Paraphrasing alot but, he goes on to say: because God is ultimate, not man. Whether I'm a slave, free, engineer, nurse, ditch digger, or whatever else - it is for worship. For joy. For the life I have in Christ. Missions is just one more role - but a temporary one like all the others. Preacher is temporary, because Jesus is our true shepherd. Engineer is temporary, because by Christ all things were made. Whatever role He puts us in, He is highest, not our role. He has called us to only one thing, to worship Him forever. The rest is just the details."

The Power of Proper Identity: Ministers of Reconciliation

2 Cor 5:18-20 – “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.”

We must get the idea of a higher calling out of our collective minds. It is misleading and destructive to the pursuit of the Lord and hearing His voice in obedience. It puffs up if we receive what we feel is higher, and it casts down if we receive what we feel is lower. A higher calling alludes to a lower calling with lower standards…but there is only one standard: Christ. Therefore, there is no higher calling than to Christ Himself by Christ Himself. And if you call Jesus your Savior, you have received the highest calling, and one shared with everyone who calls Jesus Lord.

This calling is into full-time ministry, for we are ministers of reconciliation. At different points in my life, I have considered what is commonly referred to as “full-time ministry,” at times being very much unattracted to such a life and at times being very attracted. I have wanted to give my full life to Jesus so thoroughly, such that all that I do and every ability with which He has gifted me is to serve Him and His purposes, and to do this in a way that feels impossible or at least very hindered in a common “secular” job. And tonight I am convicted more than ever of my error in thought within the aforementioned framework.

I have heard it preached and have nodded my head in agreement with numerous others who sincerely follow Christ that we are all in full-time ministry, right where we are. But I challenge you as I challenge myself: how well are you attending to that calling and do you really believe it in your heart? Is it your identity or a side-gig that you continually wish was more dominant, but never seems to be preeminent?

I want to challenge our spiritual world views. When you view your head pastor and others such as John Piper, Francis Chan, or Billy Graham; or going back in time, Oswald Chambers, Charles Spurgeon, or Martin Luther; or even going back to Peter and Paul…when you view them in your mind, do you hold them higher? I certainly do. These are amazing and inspiring men after God’s heart and dedicated with lives that some even laid down both in the spirit and in final bodily death. Men who are mentors, if by their words and examples only, on whom Jesus has built His church. Men who fit together in the sentence above…a sentence that we wouldn’t dare place our names within and alongside these names. But what if you did? Peter, Paul, [Your Name]. How does that sound? I chuckle as I think, “Terribly inadequate or terribly and misguidedly prideful.” The truth is that we should never place our own names there. In fact, we should seek to have no separate set-apart list whatsoever. The reason is that we have all received the same call from Jesus: “Come, follow me,” and since then have been commissioned as ministers of reconciliation. Peter, Paul, [Your Name], ministers of reconciliation and disciples of Christ. What a privilege to be called as such…a privilege because of the nature of the blessed gift of the calling that we could never deserve, not because of the uniqueness of it, for we share it with every soul throughout time who calls Jesus Lord.

Too often we look at our new lives in Christ as adaptations of our old lives. We see where the call to be ministers of reconciliation fits into our day-jobs and lives as they have always been. We are set free to live a new life, yet we don’t. The truth is that for the newfound in Christ, there is no adaptation of the old life…the old life must die and a new life be erected in its place. This means that every framework of self that I have believed, every way that I perceive the world and my fellow-man, my every purpose and desire, is transformed into nothing less than Christ Himself. In Christ alone am I to know my identity, in Christ alone am I to perceive the world and fellow-man, and in Christ alone is my every purpose and desire. And therefore, any circumstance that lies before me is quite secondary to my identity in Christ. Any job or calling by which I am the hands and feet of Christ is quite secondary to the calling as a full-time minister of reconciliation. This may seem elementary or it may not, but how easily we get it squarely backwards! We try to build Christ into our frameworks that are external to Him. We try to fit the ministry of reconciliation into our lives, as if God was saying, “Will is a chemical engineer. How can I now work the ministry of reconciliation into that job?” God is not saying that, although I am prone to. Quite oppositely, as a believer in Christ, we have been called to the ministry of reconciliation since the foundation of the world.

1 Peter 1:20-21 – “He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you 21 who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”

Eph 1:4 – “…just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love…”

Thus we see the Word of God paring up the commissioning as ministers of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:18-19) with Christ who was foreordained from the foundation of the world to reconcile us to Himself (1 Pet 1:20-21, Eph 1:4); therefore, our commission as ministers of His reconciliation is most certainly present from the foundation of the world. And therefore, it is preeminent over anything that you or I have become, learned, or have been gifted with. And so we must take on the new view in truth that our current circumstance, whether a job or otherwise, is a subset of the ministry of reconciliation, both in importance and in time. That means that what is commonly referred to as “full-time ministry” is also a subset of this same call to be ministers of reconciliation. In this we see the peer-to-peer brotherhood among all who are ministers of reconciliation, whether they serve in the church, on the mission field, at the office, or in the home.

The first misunderstanding that we have in our identity is that our primary calling is to any particular service or purpose...our primary calling is simply to Jesus Christ Himself, in the solitude of our hearts before Him. The second misunderstanding we have in our identity is placing the subset above the superlative office…i.e. placing any “full-time” ministry or “secular job” above the ministry of reconciliation to which we have been called. The final misunderstanding of our identity that I want us to examine is that one subset is higher than the other…which turns out to often be the result of the first and second misunderstandings. If our secular jobs or works in ministry were indeed our superlative calling and the ministry of reconciliation was but a subset of that calling, then there certainly would be a difference…for the observation is that much more reconciliation to Christ is happening in these works of ministry than in the common, secular workplace. But even in this misunderstanding, we have placed the value on the ministry of reconciliation itself after all, judging between the two callings, “secular” vs. “works of ministry,” by their fruit. In any case, we can more easily begin to see that the first calling was to Jesus Himself, being commissioned as ministers of reconciliation…a calling that we each share and that dominates our shared identities. Therefore, there is absolutely no difference in the height or greatness of the callings that lie in the subset…only a difference in obedience. Let us note that often the reason for attributing one calling as consistently higher than the other is that we perceive greater obedience to the call of reconciliation ministry within the works of traditional ministry. Oh, but what our world might look like if we took the same sold-out passion and love for Christ into our secular jobs! The fruit of the harvest that we could reap! This is where the droves of the lost reside, and we have been given access to the front lines of the battles over their souls, having greater contact with these than many of their closest family members and friends (how many people do you spend 40+ hours with each week?).

So what is the conclusion? Firstly, that there is one, singular calling to Christ, which is manifested in full-time ministry of reconciliation. Second, that this is manifested in numerous ways, for the Spirit gifts as He pleases (1 Cor 12:11). Thirdly, that all specific endeavors, works, and sub-callings are subsets of the calling to the ministry of reconciliation, and we need not consider that one calling is greater than another, such consideration being futile, elusive, and even destructive. And finally, that we cannot measure the greatness of the calling by the level of obedience of the multitude in that calling: Firstly, because we have examined that in principal, the callings are the same in necessity and value, though different in means; and secondly, by what means can we determine that one calling is greater than the other? We might better judge obedience, but even in that, we have difficulty seeing clearly the spec in another’s eye, due to the plank in our own.

I encourage you, I challenge you, I implore you: heed your calling. It is as magnificently great as it is common, the calling as a minister of reconciliation. As Christ dominates our identity, this ministry dominates our daily works. There is no greater calling than to Christ Himself. There is no greater blessing on this earth. There is no greater joy. And there is no escaping the full-time ministry of reconciliation as a follower of Christ, for to follow Christ is to minister to each other of reconciliation with Him. There are different ministry methods, but one ministry of reconciliation. May the Lord continually call you to Himself, and bless you abundantly in your personalized, yet shared calling as a minister of reconciliation. Amen.

*This post was inspired by current events in my life, as usual, as well as the first two chapters in "The Cost of Discipleship," by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a book that I most highly recommend.*