Recently I sent comments to a brother who is much younger than this old dude. My comments were in reference to another blog by the brother and since this AM I have had some additional thoughts.
Both in Proverbs and in I John there is an expression paraphrased this way, "young men are bold and old men are wise." Living with tough, old wise men is a little unsettling for the young guy who is boldly searching for truth and trying to curtail his own exuberance into a merciful and gracious presentation.
My horses continually respond to each other as horses. The dominant mare rules the roost. She lets all members of the herd know she is the boss. The enforcer, a gelding, makes sure everyone respects her and he too, is a little intimidated by her presence when she is torqued.
Men in ministry after years often drift into letting others know they are the dominant horse in the herd. The others are supposed to step back and allow space. The threat of action among the horses is usually the pinning of the ears and a slight positioning the body to land hooves with full impact on the body of the horse which violates the space of the "boss".
In the faith, there are time when a brother needs to be told he is not the boss of the herd. The trainer needs to be brought in to eliminate the bad character of a dangerous horse. The trainer may use methods us common people who ride would never use.
The trainer or another "old geezer" who understands the dominant, bad habit thing is brought in to bring the bad habit or dangerous tendency to a halt. The skill and boldness of the old guy is not often understood by the new dude learning to ride. "Don't be so tough," "don't be so aggressive," "How can you be so 'violent' to such a delicate creature?'" are often the comments.
The young guy misses the need for strong action and often mistakes training and holding accountable as aggressive, nasty, violent, unkind, uncaring. But, when riding in the mountains, bad habits and bad tendencies can bring about a nasty and sometimes fatal wreck. Read on!
When a brother who is on top of the Hill and begins to think he is the King of the Hill, someone needs to come along and knock him off the hill, as in, you're not the boss of the herd. All Scripture is given for reproof, rebuke, correction in righteousness so the brother will be fully equipped.
When we are in the public eye as believers what we say publicly is open to public scrutiny. The level of exposure for the message should be challenged at the level of communication. Personal fault needs to be confronted as in Matthew 18 and I Timothy 5, beginning in private.
The sharpening of metal as in "iron sharpens iron" needs to be done in the arena where dullness is noticed or in the case of public debate at the level of visibility. The naysayers often use this as a point of offense to the message of the Light. The older brother needs the strongness of the blunt warning to put him on notice that the blade is becoming dull and leaves ragged edges instead of slicing/cutting smoothly.
Probably the greatest mystery among believers which the world misses is the Bond of Love which we in the faith have with the others who do not dot the "i's" or "t's" as we do in our limited circle.
Going public in writing or in speech, probably will engender a public rebuke or comment. When done by one believer to another believer, the world sees this as a nasty character quality among believers. In reality it shows diversity as a mark of tolerant disagreement even in intense disagreement. When it comes to die for Christ, we as committed believers will all die together.
In an insipid communication style we are not prepared to run up against giants who maneuver and need to be called into account. These are giants in the faith and/or giants in the world.
So, here is thought to provoke some interaction: Aggressive, strong, articulate and sometimes lengthy rebuke needs to be done in the public forum, even at the expense of being misunderstood. Strong men need strong rebuke. What is "put on the table is fair game."
What do you think? - "get over yourself saying, 'what I feel.'" Unless you are speaking directly about your feelings as in emotions. Have fun with this. ""Grins""
No comments:
Post a Comment