“When did we start believing that God wants to send us to safe places to do safe things? That faithfulness is, holding the fort? That playing it safe, is safe? That there is any greater privilege than sacrifice? That radical is anything but normal? Jesus didn’t die to keep us safe. He died to make us dangerous. Faithfulness is not holding the fort. It’s storming the gates of hell. The will of God is not an insurance plan. It’s a daring plan. The complete surrender of your life to the cause of Christ isn’t radical, it’s normal. It’s time to quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. It’s time to go all in and all out for the All in All.” All In—Mark Batterson, Pastor National Community Church, Wash DC.
An ethos is the sentiment, moral nature, or guiding beliefs of a person, group or institution. In an ethos where you no longer “cling to life” but rather die to self and live to serve others, you “really live”. Christian men today can personally experience this paradox that Jesus spoke of. The word for “life” that Jesus used in Matthew was psuche, which refers to our heart and soul, not necessarily our physical life. Jesus used the same word for “life” in John 10:11, the Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep, as He set the bar for our own conduct, by freely giving his heart and soul for us. In giving His heart and soul Jesus also gave His life. Religion gives us an endless list of rules to follow whereas Jesus gives us an exciting life to follow.
If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For, whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. Anyone who does not take up their cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. Jesus, Gospel of Matthew and Gospel of John (NIV) “Generally speaking, the Way of the Warrior is resolute acceptance of death.” Musachi, Greatest of the Samurai. Jesus and Musachi have a consistent message in that neither leave any doubt about the meaning of being “all in”.
Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love. 1 Corinthians 16:13. This describes a warrior, not a WUS, whose life is one of training and testing so necessary to ensure a readiness to effectively engage evil in the service of others. I call this the Warrior Spirit and I defined it like this: The passionate desire and determination in the heart of a man to prepare himself and to perfect himself for the stance against evil in the service of others. Be Jesus-esque! My friend, retired Navy SEAL Chris Sajnog writes, “Grow a set of NUTs! Non- Negotiable-Unalterable-Terms, like integrity, loyalty, courage, steadfastness”. These are “a set of” core values. Chris also writes, “Love for the people in our lives is the reason true warriors train.”
“All men die…few men ever really live”, was a line from Brave Heart. That secret is to cease clinging to a
comfortable, self-absorbed life and embrace the death of self in pursuit of serving a higher calling. Paul stated it very well, “I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me”. Paul was not declaring himself to be on a suicide mission, rather he was declaring his heart’s goal to win the prize of fulfilling his God ordained purpose. Check out Luke 14:28-30 on “estimating the cost”
53 years ago, I was flying combat missions with the Navy Seawolves, the highest decorated navy squadron of the Vietnam War. The Seawolves were 9 detachments of 2 gunships each sited at remote locations across the Mekong Delta. Each det was a band of 16 brothers, 8 pilots and 8 door gunners. Two platoons of Navy SEALs were usually close by. I flew 507 combat missions and can testify that in the heat of battle you have no thought of clinging to life though you may be facing the real possibility of imminent death. The higher calling of service to others insulates the warrior from such emotional frittering. In those times closest to physical death you actually are all the more alive. 44 of my Seawolf brothers and 46 SEAL brothers were killed in action there, “No greater love than this”.
Our wives and children, our communities, our nation, and The Church are desperate for such men who would
declare… I’m All In For You! That would be a game changer!
Barney Barnes, 02-02-2022, Promise Keepers National Ambassador for the Military and Prisons