Drama and a Question Worth Asking by Jason Cruise Working with micro-managers has never been easy for me. Ever. I'm not a guy who sweats the details. People who sweat the finite details make me sweat, too - usually with some internalized anger, mixed with a pinch of bitterness, and marinated for a few days in thoughts of retaliation. Then again, I'm sure I make them sweat, too. I'm sure that when it comes to me they have to have their own conversations with God about attitude readjustments. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. - Romans 12:18 A man must ask himself: is this a battle worth fighting? It's amazing to me, when I step back and do my best to be objective, that I'll find the battle was not, nor is not, in fact, worth fighting at all because it never was intended to be a battle. It was more like a riff. A skirmish. A bit of sideways popping up on my life's radar that was gone as fast as it appeared. More often than not, the drama was over something that, in the greater kingdom of God, really didn't matter at all. Peace, in my experience, is most easily achieved between me and someone else when I am at peace with God. Said another way, when I allow myself to trust God with the outcome, peace resides in my heart. When my heart is content, my attitude tends to follow . . . without the use of a leash.
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They Came Back, With Joy! by Jason Cruise Danger is a reality of life for the true disciple, yet in the lives of Jesus followers, I believe we think that perhaps the Master was just speaking metaphorically when He said: If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. (John 15:20) In Luke 10 you see Jesus sending people out to battle. Think about the sobriety of it: they were going out on a homeless option; on a straight up odyssey, where the only agenda for the day was to wake up, get in the fight, and see what happens. "The seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name." They came back with joy. Not beat down. Not discouraged. They experienced real fulfillment. Understand what's being said here: they came back with joy because they encountered demons, sleepless nights, "no clue as to what might happen today" sort of stuff. They had a great time being sent on a wild, unpredictable, homeless every day until somebody says "sleep at my house tonight" kind of journey. Why the joy? Because they were living their lives with a purpose ordained by God instead of a manufactured dream based on their own set of life goals. They were obedient to God, and obedience, friend, is the birthplace of vision. God have them a vision for their future. They acted on it. Then, and only then, did they find fulfillment that springs from the joy of knowing you are walking in the power of the Holy Spirit. Fire From Heaven, As If I Could by Jason Cruise Perhaps what I love most about the Scriptures is that God didn't make any attempt whatsoever to cover up our inescapable humanity. In this case, Jesus was once again stonewalled in a town, only this time, it was the wrong town, and the right wrong people. Religious people loved to hate on Samaritans. They were easy targets. Lost. Unredeemed. Degenerate. Loud. Luke 9:54 gives me incredible hope as a man. So Jesus gets a cold shoulder in a Samaritan village, and when His men get wind of it, James and John cowboy up. "Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven and destroy them?" Don't overlook it. James and John wanted to stomp on these people. Not with whips. Not via stoning them. Not a beat down. No ... they genuinely wanted to flip the light switch of the eternal and engulf these freaks with literal fire from Jehovah God. As if God's wrathful fire was something you could just go and get whenever you want it; totally at your disposal. Don't you love their brazen, junior high attitude? I love it. It's the apostolic equivalent of "My dad can beat you up. All I gotta do is tell Him." There's not much difference between you, me, James and John. We are men. Sometimes we get really, really angry, and sometimes, it's for the right reasons. They were protecting Jesus and were defending what they knew to be the man God sent to this perverse generation. They were acting out of what seemed like love for Him in the moment. The irony is hilarious. They were following a man from Nazareth who was teaching them to love people, and the moment things didn't go their way simply because people were acting ugly, they double down on the ugly meter with sheer desire to kill 'em all. The reality is this: the hardest truth I continually confront is that lost people are supposed to act like lost people. I should know. I used to be one. Miley Cyrus, Me, and You by Jason Cruise I woke up Monday morning and checked my Twitter feed. Evidently MTV's Video Music Awards were nothing new. Rank. Raw. Filled with glam and pop culture. Yet there was a buzz above the norm, and it was due to Miley Cyrus. Her performance left even the most un-shockable shock jock pop stars speechless with shock and awe. Before you start shaking your head, be careful, because I'm not so sure you, me, and Americans everywhere, can get off the hook on this one. I searched out the video of her performance on the internet so that I could see it for myself. It was bad. No, it was awful, not merely in matters of music and production, but in all things related to the human soul. However, after watching it, my first response wasn't targeted at Miley. My first thoughts were targeted at us: all of us. All Americans. Everywhere. I thought to myself, "Why all the shock? This is what we wanted. She's giving us exactly what we've wanted for decades." Miley Cyrus is completely to blame for her actions. Let's be clear about that. I detest with a vengeance any time I see someone blame evil or depravity on anything other than the person doing it. Miley is not a product of her environment. Miley's a grown woman who did what she did because she wanted to, but as an entertainer, she's just living out what people want to see. As an entertainer, she's matching the culture's desire for more of the edge we want to see pushed. There's a question in leadership circles about how change happens. It goes like this: " "How do you turn a battleship?" Answer: Constant pressure on a very small rudder. We've allowed ourselves to get to this moment in our nation's history. Decay is always a slow process. We have decayed via constant, unrelenting pressure in the name of freedom of expression. We, and by we I mean all of us, Jesus followers very, very much included, one by one, we all began to let things into our lives and our homes that were far less than righteous. We ... me ... you ... watched Friends in college and laughed about their lives as twenty-somethings trying to figure life out, all the while willing to put up with the sitcom as it was couched in the context of every character freely pursuing multiple sexual partners. We ... me ... you ... let our children go to movies that have questionable plot lines because we want them to have friends and we want them to be socially included. Americans at large have allowed promiscuous language, via the television, to slip in our homes, all the while telling our kids, "Oh, sweetie, now we don't say that." We just let it go, and that's how it happens. The constant pressure of promiscuity leaning hard on our cultural rudder eventually wins. That's how you transition from Andy Griffith to NBC's debut of The New Normal, aptly titled because it's two gay men raising children. It's in this same cultural context where now you have the debate in the church over whether or not homosexuality is actually a sin when God's word couldn't be more clear on the issue. It's in this same culture where you see men, in rampant numbers, addicted to porn. Christian men included. It's in the same culture where you now see women struggling with self-image and doubt because they can't keep up with the latest breast implant fads; nor can they measure up to the ads they see in magazines where models display photo-edited versions of what is, after the graphics are mastered, a woman who is a computer generated, perfect, flawless version of the quite flawed woman who actually modeled in the photo. It's in the same culture where movies are filled with killing, and killing, and killing. It's in that same culture where video games are filled with killing, and killing, and more killing while the teenage gamer, surrounded by girls in the video game clad in bikinis, stand in awe of him doing his killing. Yet, we are somehow shocked when we see Newtown? Listen: it's not the fault of a gun. It's not the fault of a video. Even the most anti-intellect human being can reason that out. It's evil, and we let it in our homes, and by letting it into our homes, we gave it value. We have taught our children to value killing, sex, sexiness, and rebellion. In fact, many of you PAID to let these values into your home because you bought the video games, and some of you watched these movies and sitcoms yourselves right along side your sons and daughters. It's in this same culture where teenage California boys are watching their wildest dreams come true, supported by the force of state law, where boys have access to girls locker rooms and bathrooms, and can now go shower alongside girls at public schools, if those boys are willing to say they are struggling with their sexual identity. I can promise you, at the age of 14, I'd have been the very first to sign up for that, and every one my buddies would have, too! We'd have all been claiming to be sexually confused, without the first ounce of shame, if it meant getting to watch girls take showers. We let it go. We, Christians included, shook our heads in disgust, yet we did nothing. We let it go, and eventually, slowly, over thirty years or more, it's gone. All of it. Innocence has left our country, and it's not coming back. Miley grew up in a culture where the gloves had officially "come off." Everything and anything that even hinted at sexuality was actually celebrated as creative and vogue. Every movie, every song, every sitcom, every billboard, every everything, from the day she was born into this world, reeked of sensuality. When I saw Miley's performance, my heart hurt for her. She literally looked and acted like a person who'd lost her mind given that her soul had been taken over. As a father, my heart hurt for Billy Ray Cyrus. To see you daughter act out such depravity has got to leave a man speechless. Even still, friends, do not think that we are completely innocent. Even within the church, our standards have fallen. Our regard for that which is Holy is missing, and we are paying for it. So now what? What do we do in the face of a culture that is morally lost its mind? Take back your mind. The Scriptures tell us that we are to "be transformed by the renewing of the mind." (Romans 12:2). Take back your home. Get rid of networks like ABC FAMLY who stated recently that they are going to start introducing programming for kids that have gay parents. Take back your music, and your kids music, when lyrics denigrate the holiness of God's plan for your body. Cancel service to networks that show movies that your children can access when you're not home, and for the love of God and His plan for you, don't watch them yourselves. Take the words of Jesus seriously. Jesus wasn't offering a Great Suggestion. He was giving a Great Commandment. When He said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind" He was including loving God with your iPad, loving Him through your DirecTV, your movie ticket purchases, your iTunes downloads, how you spend your money, loving Him through the clothes you let your kids wear, and the video games you let them purchase. Our culture may be lost. And gone. And depraved. That doesn't mean you have to be, and it certainly doesn't mean you have to sacrifice your children on the altar of temporary popularity for the long-term loss of their soul. Post Script: People ask me all the time if they are allowed to forward The Man Minute or post in on church or corporate websites. Absolutely. In fact, in this case, I would hope you'd send it, post it, or tweet it to every man, woman, or teenager who is willing to listen. |
Jason CruiseJason Cruise is the founder of Mission. Mission was created to "vindicate the fatherless" in a country known as Moldova. To learn more go to www.themissionvision.net Jason is a well known speaker traveling across the country sharing his love for Christ at wildgame dinners and conferences. Jason has created many valuable resources for the outdoorsmen to take them deeper into their walk with their Creator. These items include DVD's, Bibles, and Bible studies. Archives
July 2014
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