Comments on: Men with a whole heart

By: Martin McNeely

Martin McNeely — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 21:31:21 +0000

Or rugby actually!

By: Richard Moore

Richard Moore — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 23:29:23 +0000

I love this post. Guys sure are prepared for leadership by playing a sport such as football. It might be a stretch to require elders to “Play High School Football”, but I love the ambition of asking men to “Man Up” and be men who charge forward with passion for Christ and his Church. “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him”. And men who ‘arrive’ at satisfaction in God have fooled themselves in thinking that they can ever be completely satisfied in Him in this life. Meaning we have to keep pressing in and into Him by pressing forward too. I think that is what the apostle Paul meant when he said “forgetting what is behind, I press on to reach the GOAL for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. UH OH maybe we have to change that sport to Soccer (Reference to GOAL). Great post!

By: Jude St. John

Jude St. John — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 22:13:58 +0000

Awesome post Ray!

This just made my day!

Thanks for this!

Jude

By: Tweets that mention Men with a whole heart – Ray Ortlund -- Topsy.com

Tweets that mention Men with a whole heart – Ray Ortlund -- Topsy.com — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 21:08:17 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Gabriel Posey, Eddie Smith. Eddie Smith said: If I could change the Bible, all I would do is add “play high school football” to the qualifications for elders. (http://bit.ly/dCkBsD) #fb [...]

By: Stephen T

Stephen T — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:17:14 +0000

I’m trying to reconcile some of the images that this post creates … images of “intense effort”, of “crawling off the field”, of ministry as “demanding”, of a warrior filled with outward passion and abandon … with images that, for me, characterize the daily life of Jesus as portrayed in the gospels.

I must admit there is some disconnect.

Perhaps “wholeheartedness” is the best unifying idea that you are trying to get across, and one in which I completely agree. I agree that in one form or another, wholeheartedness is a real key to the Christian life. I can also see how the human experience of exerting 110% effort in a team sport like football could be an extremely valuable lesson for meeting life’s obstacles, and for furthering ones understanding of wholeheartedness in some contexts. But to suggest that a necessary wholeheartedness, by definition, correlates to this outward form abandon, effort, and passion … that correlation falls a little short for me.

I believe that central to the wholeheartedness that Jesus possessed is the reality that “the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing.” The wholeheartedness is devoted to the purpose of union and resulting fruit, not for purpose of God-ward abandon as a means for productive ministry ends. Does this wholeheartedness sometimes call for a perseverance that asks for all of our strength, and then some? Yes! But let us include in this exhausting of our strength such things as the perseverance of patience, the perseverance of forsaking, of loving, and of trusting. The older I get, (I’m 43), the more I’m coming to understand that “believing” is the hardest thing there is to do. Be wholehearted in believing that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and the rest will surely follow. For then “God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

And perhaps there is a kind of passivity that “does understand”, but we won’t get into that now.

Thanks for helping me to grapple with these concepts.