I somehow knew a blog post would happen after watching Gladiator (for the first time the whole way through? REALLY, past me??? Fail!). Thanks to all who read...please let God speak to you as I try to allow Him to speak through me.
I like to think that I'm a man of principles. A man of strong character and faith. Whether that's true yet or not...well, God's still at work. About 3-4 weeks ago, I bought a sword to hang in my apartment. I wanted something that I could display proudly in my living room, something that reminds me of my warrior spirit. It's now become my second-favorite decoration...my favorite is and will always be an old, decrepit Yankees shirt that my dad wore for an extremely long time...nothing replaces that. But anyway, what's really cool about the sword I bought is that there are three of my favorite words carved into the hilt: courage, honneur, justice. I've studied courage quite a bit and have a solid foundation on that. I am extremely passionate about justice and try to live by that as much as possible. But honor. Y'know, I've never studied it deeply and what I believe about it. What is even cooler is the spelling of the word, and the location on the hilt. Ye Olde English, honneur, located dead center on the hilt, as if it were the key word. So...what of it? (p.s. my writing is very ADD...you'll have to forgive that lol)
As I already said, I'm fresh off of watching Gladiator. As with any movie, I look for spiritual parallels that I can take away from it. The part that really caught my attention was the second time he came face-to-face with the emperor, Commodus. The first was his famous monologue, "My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, blablabla". But the second is after Maximus fights his way through the staged battle after mauling a tiger and a rather gigantic human being. Now you see, there's a difference between Commodus and Maximus...Commodus is a sniveling, spineless coward, Maximus is an honorable warrior. And at this point the gloves are off. Maximus knows that Commodus is trying to kill him. So here's the exchange that caught my eye:
Commodus: What am I going to do with you? You simply won't... die. Are we so different, you and I? You take life when you have to... as I do.
Maximus: I have only one more life to take. Then it is done.
Commodus: Then take it now.
[Maximus pauses, then turns around and walks away]
Commodus: They tell me your son...
[Maximus stops]
Commodus: ...squealed like a girl when they nailed him to the cross. And your wife... moaned like a whore when they ravaged her again and again... and again.
Maximus: The time for honoring yourself will soon be at an end.
[Bows head]
Maximus: Highness.
See that? Maximus doesn't trash talk. He doesn't threaten. He states his duty, then prepares to leave. But the loudmouth keeps running his mouth...tries to get him to react. But Maximus doesn't react in the way Commodus is prodding him. Instead he just quietly says a single line and walks off. To me, this move just screamed honor.
When I saw this, it made me think of Jesus's famous teaching of turning the other cheek, "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also" Matthew 5:38-39. Maximus quite literally ran out of cheeks. First Commodus says, "Alright you poser, let's see how tough you are. Go on, strike me down. C'mon chicken...you know you want to." Maximus doesn't say a word and walks away. So the next line of attack is, "OK fine, Mr. Heroic and Humble, trying to play the honor card. Let's see how you like me talking about your wife and son...who, by the way, I humiliated and murdered in cold blood." Maximus turned one cheek and got struck on the other. Having run out, he doesn't retaliate. He just swiftly says one line and walks away...but not before getting in a little cheap shot of his own by mocking Commodus' royal position :)
It's easy to sing hymns such as "Standing On The Promises", but can we sing that and truly stand on them? Here's a difficult one: "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." - Romans 12:29, referencing Deuteronomy 32:35, "To me belongeth vengeance and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste." Let me make an example out of my own life. I have people in my life that absolutely love to take cheap shots at me. People who love to see me react because as I've been told, "Chris, you have the FUNNIEST reactions!" Yeah, lovely. And I'm fine with an occasional mock at me, especially if it makes a laugh for someone. But then it goes too far...it goes into cheap shots about my character and faith, and that's when I begin to feel rage swell up inside of me. "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." It's so hard to keep that! "Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven." - Matthew 18:21-22. It all goes hand-in-hand. To keep going on that, what does the Bible say about people like this? "It is an honour for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling." - Proverbs 20:3. "A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards." - Proverbs 29:11. Fools. The Bible says that these jabs that are taken at me, they're not even worth my time to respond. So the correct response...well, go back to Matthew 5 and 18.
Now this isn't meant to belittle people or play the whole "sticks and stones" argument. My purpose in writing this is to develop a more honorable lifestyle, one that reflects Christ and the honorable way that HE lived. I just found that the word "honour" is mentioned approximately 178 times in the King James Bible. Something tells me that God thinks it's kinda important. So the question that I get from this is, "Well...what's stopping me?" I tend to think of honor in terms of my own manhood, in learning of how I'm to develop as a man of God. I've always said I want to "wow" my future wife with the way I live, and that comes with being an honorable man of strength. So a song that brought me back to this thought is called Authority by 116 (Christian hip-hop/rap group). The first part of the first verse goes like this: "On the reel, I'm a man / But I guess it's just my gender / When it comes to manhood / Man we leave it to our sisters / What a tragedy, travesty, passive in our actions, living absentee / Stand and wait while asking them to marry me". They're tough words to hear and can be tough to live out. But when focus on honoring God first by living the example of honor Christ set for us, it's not difficult at all. As I said, if I try to live honorably sometimes I get laughed at or put down. But I talked about this in a previous note (Post-Grey), what is our mode of thought and action if we are completely alone, if all of our friends abandon us? Jesus faced that on the cross. Judas betrayed him. Peter disowned him. The rest of them ran away. God the Almighty Father turned His face away from him. Jesus was completely and utterly ALONE. Yet, he died honorably. He knew what he had to do, and as a MAN should, he did it. What a testimony. Simply to be associated with the word "honor", it's worth living so I could have that put on my gravestone. It's worth dying for. If you don't believe me, I'll say it again: 178 times in the King James Bible. God said it, Jesus established it. I have a lot to learn...and a lot more to put into practice. So to answer my question, what's stopping me? There's nothing stopping me. "He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved." - Psalm 62:6. God is preparing me to living humbly and honorably. Praise God for the opportunity to live honorably for His eternal glory.
I like to think that I'm a man of principles. A man of strong character and faith. Whether that's true yet or not...well, God's still at work. About 3-4 weeks ago, I bought a sword to hang in my apartment. I wanted something that I could display proudly in my living room, something that reminds me of my warrior spirit. It's now become my second-favorite decoration...my favorite is and will always be an old, decrepit Yankees shirt that my dad wore for an extremely long time...nothing replaces that. But anyway, what's really cool about the sword I bought is that there are three of my favorite words carved into the hilt: courage, honneur, justice. I've studied courage quite a bit and have a solid foundation on that. I am extremely passionate about justice and try to live by that as much as possible. But honor. Y'know, I've never studied it deeply and what I believe about it. What is even cooler is the spelling of the word, and the location on the hilt. Ye Olde English, honneur, located dead center on the hilt, as if it were the key word. So...what of it? (p.s. my writing is very ADD...you'll have to forgive that lol)
As I already said, I'm fresh off of watching Gladiator. As with any movie, I look for spiritual parallels that I can take away from it. The part that really caught my attention was the second time he came face-to-face with the emperor, Commodus. The first was his famous monologue, "My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, blablabla". But the second is after Maximus fights his way through the staged battle after mauling a tiger and a rather gigantic human being. Now you see, there's a difference between Commodus and Maximus...Commodus is a sniveling, spineless coward, Maximus is an honorable warrior. And at this point the gloves are off. Maximus knows that Commodus is trying to kill him. So here's the exchange that caught my eye:
Commodus: What am I going to do with you? You simply won't... die. Are we so different, you and I? You take life when you have to... as I do.
Maximus: I have only one more life to take. Then it is done.
Commodus: Then take it now.
[Maximus pauses, then turns around and walks away]
Commodus: They tell me your son...
[Maximus stops]
Commodus: ...squealed like a girl when they nailed him to the cross. And your wife... moaned like a whore when they ravaged her again and again... and again.
Maximus: The time for honoring yourself will soon be at an end.
[Bows head]
Maximus: Highness.
See that? Maximus doesn't trash talk. He doesn't threaten. He states his duty, then prepares to leave. But the loudmouth keeps running his mouth...tries to get him to react. But Maximus doesn't react in the way Commodus is prodding him. Instead he just quietly says a single line and walks off. To me, this move just screamed honor.
When I saw this, it made me think of Jesus's famous teaching of turning the other cheek, "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also" Matthew 5:38-39. Maximus quite literally ran out of cheeks. First Commodus says, "Alright you poser, let's see how tough you are. Go on, strike me down. C'mon chicken...you know you want to." Maximus doesn't say a word and walks away. So the next line of attack is, "OK fine, Mr. Heroic and Humble, trying to play the honor card. Let's see how you like me talking about your wife and son...who, by the way, I humiliated and murdered in cold blood." Maximus turned one cheek and got struck on the other. Having run out, he doesn't retaliate. He just swiftly says one line and walks away...but not before getting in a little cheap shot of his own by mocking Commodus' royal position :)
It's easy to sing hymns such as "Standing On The Promises", but can we sing that and truly stand on them? Here's a difficult one: "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." - Romans 12:29, referencing Deuteronomy 32:35, "To me belongeth vengeance and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste." Let me make an example out of my own life. I have people in my life that absolutely love to take cheap shots at me. People who love to see me react because as I've been told, "Chris, you have the FUNNIEST reactions!" Yeah, lovely. And I'm fine with an occasional mock at me, especially if it makes a laugh for someone. But then it goes too far...it goes into cheap shots about my character and faith, and that's when I begin to feel rage swell up inside of me. "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." It's so hard to keep that! "Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven." - Matthew 18:21-22. It all goes hand-in-hand. To keep going on that, what does the Bible say about people like this? "It is an honour for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling." - Proverbs 20:3. "A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards." - Proverbs 29:11. Fools. The Bible says that these jabs that are taken at me, they're not even worth my time to respond. So the correct response...well, go back to Matthew 5 and 18.
Now this isn't meant to belittle people or play the whole "sticks and stones" argument. My purpose in writing this is to develop a more honorable lifestyle, one that reflects Christ and the honorable way that HE lived. I just found that the word "honour" is mentioned approximately 178 times in the King James Bible. Something tells me that God thinks it's kinda important. So the question that I get from this is, "Well...what's stopping me?" I tend to think of honor in terms of my own manhood, in learning of how I'm to develop as a man of God. I've always said I want to "wow" my future wife with the way I live, and that comes with being an honorable man of strength. So a song that brought me back to this thought is called Authority by 116 (Christian hip-hop/rap group). The first part of the first verse goes like this: "On the reel, I'm a man / But I guess it's just my gender / When it comes to manhood / Man we leave it to our sisters / What a tragedy, travesty, passive in our actions, living absentee / Stand and wait while asking them to marry me". They're tough words to hear and can be tough to live out. But when focus on honoring God first by living the example of honor Christ set for us, it's not difficult at all. As I said, if I try to live honorably sometimes I get laughed at or put down. But I talked about this in a previous note (Post-Grey), what is our mode of thought and action if we are completely alone, if all of our friends abandon us? Jesus faced that on the cross. Judas betrayed him. Peter disowned him. The rest of them ran away. God the Almighty Father turned His face away from him. Jesus was completely and utterly ALONE. Yet, he died honorably. He knew what he had to do, and as a MAN should, he did it. What a testimony. Simply to be associated with the word "honor", it's worth living so I could have that put on my gravestone. It's worth dying for. If you don't believe me, I'll say it again: 178 times in the King James Bible. God said it, Jesus established it. I have a lot to learn...and a lot more to put into practice. So to answer my question, what's stopping me? There's nothing stopping me. "He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved." - Psalm 62:6. God is preparing me to living humbly and honorably. Praise God for the opportunity to live honorably for His eternal glory.
