The Question that Haunts Every Man.
Am I really a man? Have I got what it takes...when it counts?
Since the fall of man, that is the question guys have been asking themselves. We second-guess ourselves. We put up fronts, false bravado. Macho men.
Eldridge starts the chapter talking about the memory of the lion at the zoo. When you think of a lion - KING OF THE BEASTS - what comes to your mind? A caged, withdrawn, tame animal, or a free, majestic beast?
"For after years of living in a cage, a lion no longer even believes it is a lion...and a man no longer believes he is a man."
Men are cooped up. We live to do the same tings day in and day out. This is not saying that we don't enjoy family activities, kid's sporting events, dance recitals, etc. It is saying that we have lost touch with the spark in our masculine heart that yearns for something more, something bigger than ourselves.
We talked about the effects of being cooped up, replacing anyting adventurous in our lives with humdrum. Same old same old. Any trace of fierce or fire has been extinguised, replaced with fax machines and cubicle walls. The movie Office Space was mentioned, especially where the main character, Peter (after hypnotic suggestion gone wrong) decides that wearing flip-flops to work, and deconstructing his cubicle so he could see out the window was the way to go. (If you have worked for 1 day in an office, you were totally cheering him on.)The dangers (and hilarity) of posing came up. Whether it is your power tools (that you barely know how to use), your motorcycle (that you just bought, with leather and all the accessories), or whether it is talking to your mechanic ("Yeah, I figured that was the problem."). We men find ourselves posing, trying to fit into a role that we are not. Some posing is putting on our "happy worship face" at church each week. The root of us trying to measure up to the man next to us, may be deeper-rooted than you think. This leads us to where it all began...the fall of man.
We discussed how Adam was not ignorant of Eve's temptation...he was standing right next to her (Gen 3:6).
We read aloud two excerpts from Donald Miller's book, Searching for God Knows What, that really explain the ripple effect that Adam and Eve's poor decision-making had on humanity.
"But when that relationship was broken, they knew it instantly. All of their glory, the glory that came from God, was gone. It wouldn't be unlike being in love and having somebody love you, then all of a sudden that person is gone, like a kid lost in the store. All of the insecurity rises the instant you realize you are alone. No insecurity was felt when the person who loved you was around, but in his absence, it instantly comes to the surface. In this way, Adam and Eve were naked and weren't ashamed when God was around, but the second the relationship was broken, they realized it and were ashamed. And that is just the beginning.
If man was wired so that something outside himself told him who he was, and if God's presence was giving him a feeling of fulfillment, then when that relationship was broken, man would be pining for other people to tell them that he was good, right, okay with the world, and eternally secure. As I wrote earlier, we all compare ourselves to others, and none of our emotions - like jealousy and envy and lust - could exist unless man was wired so that somebody else told him who he was, and that somebody else was gone."
(emphasis mine - JP)
So, is the posing that we do to gain approval from our peers - at the auto shop, or in church - rooted all the way back to Eden, where we failed and broke our relationship with God?
We will end this week's round-up with one more quote from Miller. Take a moment and think about the enormity of what happened in that one moment in the garden, and how that affects you personally deep down:
"And this feeling, this feeling must have been so much more painful for Adam and Eve, this feeling of having an infinite amount of love pouring through their lives and then suddenly it's gone."
"I wondered how terrible it must have felt, at the fear of no longer feeling God, at the ache of emptiness and the sudden and horrifying awareness of self. God have mercy."
FOR NEXT WEEK: READ CHAPTER 4: THE WOUND!
We hope to see you all next week at 5!
Leave your thoughts and discussions in the comments section below!
2 comments
Comment by JD on February 1, 2019 at 5:00 PM
Great read, thanks guys!
Comment by Unknown on February 24, 2021 at 1:10 PM
lame