Sunday, January 6, 2013

The One.

Out of every Hundred men,
Ten shouldn’t even be there,
Eighty are just targets,
Nine are the real fighters,
and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle.
Ah, but the One,
The One is a warrior
And He will bring the others back.

-- Heraclitus

I first read this about two years ago. I have always felt there was something to this.

I see three kinds of men layed out in this quote. Men who don't have direction or passion, men who have passion but no direction and men who have both and the ability to teach others how to have both. The One has two roles as the Knight and the Guardian.

The One is a warrior. (The Knight)

Men with passion but no direction(the nine)are common place I see it everywhere they know they have strength to offer but for the life of them they can't seem to figure out what the area is that would best suit them.

Sound familiar?

Strength under control turns a man from a brawler(fighter) to a knight (warrior).

A knight has a cause that is worth giving his life for, unto death. It's more then a battle it's more then an adventure it's a whole way of living.
If you were to live like your life was in service to those around you would your life look different?

A knight lives in service to his king and serving the king means serving the people.
Knights also have training that can be passed on they have Pages and Squires for that reason.
Pages and Squires may be adults or boys in a knights life.

Who is in your life that needs raising up?

The fulfillment of this role is that your passion and desire becomes the kings(Jesus) passion and desire, to serve those around you and to lend your strength to raising up those around you.
When your direction and passion come from the king then you move from being a fighter to a warrior.

And He (The One) will bring the others back. (The Guardian)

To rescue men who have no passion or direction you have to understand what it means to have been rescued.

You have to come to terms with the fact that you were without direction and without passion and you were invited into a story that was bigger then you and told that you had what it took enought times to silence the voices of discouragement.

It may have happened growing up or as a grown up but somewhere masculinity was bestowed to you as you fellowshiped with men.

The idea of the guardian came from a movie of that title.
It was in the company of a man (Kevin Costner) who had walked the road of loss that recovery was possible for young Jake. (Ashton Kutcher).

The fulfillment of this role is that you don't just leave people in their brokenness and dispair you go after them and rescue them bring them back to the shepherd(Jesus) to be cared for and healed.
Just as Jesus left the ninty-nine to save the one.

To summarize the One lives in service to those around him through discipleship and sacrifice, as a knight and as a guardian never leaves behind those who are in need of love and care.
So Jesus lived and so we must if we are to call him brother and king.