Lion Tamers?
I was reading one of my favorite magazines yesterday. "Relevant" always keeps me entertained, informed and challenged. The last article I read reminded me of an obscure story in Scripture. 2 Samuel 23:20 narrates the story of Benaiah whose whole life was highlighted by an incident where he met a lion, chased it down into a snowy pit and killed it. Huh? Are you for real? A man who not only does not run away, but chases a lion down and kills it at the bottom of a pit; what is that? Benaiah's courage to risk and take action caused him to become the head of David's body guard unit.
The amazing thing in this story is the courage of a man to face down the impossible and tame it. In other words, he tamed the scariest of all situations. He not only tamed but vanquished the situation.
This got me thinking about apathy and the church. Are we unwilling to face down and slay lions in our way? What a great metaphor. It is often not what we do but what we don't do that defines us. Imagine if Benaiah had not chased down that lion? What would have defined him?
What areas of inactivity are killing us as the church? I believe we are being defined more by our inaction than by our actions. Often our actions are misguided and selfish, not always, but often. Instead of risking and winning, we sit on the sidelines and everyone loses.
I could start a long list of issues on which we are inactive. I am more interested on the lions you think we need to slay. This blog is not about what I think. It is more about what you think. So are there lions we need to tame in the church, in order to make us what God wants?
I would be anxious to see what is on your list. What do you think?
The amazing thing in this story is the courage of a man to face down the impossible and tame it. In other words, he tamed the scariest of all situations. He not only tamed but vanquished the situation.
This got me thinking about apathy and the church. Are we unwilling to face down and slay lions in our way? What a great metaphor. It is often not what we do but what we don't do that defines us. Imagine if Benaiah had not chased down that lion? What would have defined him?
What areas of inactivity are killing us as the church? I believe we are being defined more by our inaction than by our actions. Often our actions are misguided and selfish, not always, but often. Instead of risking and winning, we sit on the sidelines and everyone loses.
I could start a long list of issues on which we are inactive. I am more interested on the lions you think we need to slay. This blog is not about what I think. It is more about what you think. So are there lions we need to tame in the church, in order to make us what God wants?
I would be anxious to see what is on your list. What do you think?
posted by Larry at 8:43 PM
3 Comments:
My thoughts run in a different direction on the subject of taming lions. Two ideas - Aslan, and the children's question - is he safe - no, but he is good. And the second, is that of Dorothy Sayers, who talked about how the church has effectively tamed the Lion of Judah.
More to your point, one of the biggest lions I'm running into is a punitive attitude toward the poor, marginalized, and struggling of our world. It's their fault,you know, that they're (fill in the blank). Yet how to change the attitude of another?
What?
I've carried this Scripture around with me for a few days. Not wrestling, but analyzing. The lion tamer, the lion, the character.
I see this Scripture more in description of the strongly bound, tightly constructed loyal band of brothers which David had fighting for him, with him, in protection of him. He was leading men in battle, in war, and he didn't do it from a far off distance, but was with them, guiding and sharing strength with them.
The greatest human strength any leadership has is the devoted, compiled trust and loyalty of those who determine to venture with said leadership. To go to battle along side. To protect. To lend all talents, abilities, agilities, courage, skill - all for the united band of brothers in the fight with their determined enemy. Investing nothing more and nothing less than themself.
Investing one's self is a challenging danger - "I could be alone in this venture" - and its a fear we all encounter. That small child, our younger self, who lives on the inside of our psyche who sees being alone as the greatest error in life. That small child can cause us to revert to timid attempts at what we should be courageous about, joining someone else in their encounter.
"I am here with you" - that is what I read in these lines of II Samuel - "here with everything I can offer. You are safe and not alone."
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