The freedom Christ purchased was a freedom from the penalty and presence of sin in our lives—freedom from so we can be free to become. Free to become more, to become who we truly have in us to be. This isn’t just a good deal for us. God also benefits greatly. He gets what he wants.
He gets back the desire of his heart, what he is most fiercely after: his image-bearers, his beloved children, and the chance to love them.
Over and over we tell tales of love and sacrifice, rescue and redemption, good versus evil, all with the hope of the great line, “And they lived happily ever after.” We don’t just watch these stories. We feel them. Yet too often, this response of the heart is lost in translation. We men are unable or unwilling to see and hear these stories, which are reflections of our stories in the context of the Larger Story.
The heroes in the stories that inspire us invite us to see what our hearts are made for. When we fail to connect the themes in these stories with the themes in our own stories, then we miss the larger life for which we are being called. Often we miss our moment to step up and in to play the hero’s part because we don’t see and hear these moments of invitation. Opportunities to love well, fight well, and offer a true masculine presence, compassion, and strength.
An excerpt from The Heart of a Warrior.
