via TJC
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
Jeremiah 17:9
I took up golf last year during Covid, after avoiding it for decades. Golf courses were one of the few things open, and I like being outside, and it was fun to play with my wife. We soon signed up and took some very basic lessons to get a foundation. Fast forward a year, and we are hooked, joined a club, got good clubs, and play often; but my scores are not impressive. I have some bad habits that a coach can help address.
I bet you can relate to getting engaged in a new activity, googling and you tubing details about it, then jumping in and while fun, realizing it’s a lot harder than you anticipated.
It’s a lot like our Christian walk; finally visited that new church and the pastor, the people, the worship was great. Then you even got active, serve weekly, but while it’s still fun at times, you realize this walk is a lot harder than you imagined. This whole transformation thing sounds great, but is pretty challenging.
CS Lewis states this well - “No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good." A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness — they have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means — the only complete realist”
The Kingdom Man walk is hard, after all you are in a war. You can not will or teach yourself to play perfect golf, shoot an arrow, or be the perfect husband/dad/warrior - you need ongoing training, need to participate in live exercises (enemy doesn’t tap-out), need daily reminders, and need to be engaged constantly with others who have your back and can see you taking your eye off the ball and off the target.
Daily Battle Order:
You need to be aligned with men who are growing you as a disciple, and helping you to disciple others. You need to find a group like TJC, EMAW, the Navigators, or a really strong Bible group to help you find and stay on the ancient path. We would love to have you contact us and we will help you find a strong anchor group near you.
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