“And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.” (I Cor. 9:25)
When did we settle? When did we lose interest in mastery? When did we decide “good enough” was “good enough”? When did we lose the fire that creates someone like an Apostle Paul, or a Bruce Lee?
Is there anything more important than eternity? And yet we have settled for the temporary, lost interest in the Spirit, slid into complacency and compromise, and we are no longer on the warrior’s journey.
We need an awakening.
In just a few more weeks the newest episode of “Star Wars” hits the big screens. I still remember when the last one was coming out. remember what they were saying? “There has been an awakening. Have you felt it?”
Have you achieved Black Belt in your Christianity? Is that a weird thing to ask? What do you think Paul is talking about when he is speaking of striving for mastery? Have you decided a brown belt, or even white, is good enough for eternal things? Good enough for God? Good enough for now?
This series is meant to be motivational. It’s meant to light a fire under our pathetic spiritually fat butt and wake us up! I can assure you the devil is fully awake, but are we? Can anyone write anything that might light our fire again? Can mere words stir us with a vision of climbing God’s mountain of mastery?
I don’t know. Perhaps I write this only for myself, to keep myself on fire!
I had a strange thing happen to me when I was 38. I was at a movie about the life of Bruce Lee: “Dragon”. I was there alone. I didn’t need company to enjoy something about Bruce Lee. He amazed me. There was something about his devotion and dedication to the warrior’s path that always inspired me.
I was shocked when he suddenly died. Now they were making movies about him, and this actor was pretty good. In the dark of that theater I was really getting into it, really enjoying it, totally focused, when out of nowhere I could have sworn I heard a voice say: “Why don’t you let me teach you Black Belt Christianity?” That question changed my life from that point on. It even changed what I saw in the rest of the movie. Every Chinese Kung Fu movement became, what is the spiritual equivalent of that?
Weird huh. Yes, unusual. And whether I heard a real voice or not, it was powerful enough it changed the trajectory of my life. It was the closest thing to hearing an actual verbal voice I have ever come. It was a personal encounter I cannot prove. The life I have lived since that time is the only evidence I have to offer that it was real. Obviously, whether real or not, it was real to me. And so perhaps I have a little different slant on things I teach from God’s Word. My path with God has been different than the “Bible College” path. Consider these verses in the NLT.
“Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.” (I Cor. 9:24-27)
Recently I started watching a 50 episode Netflix series on the life of Bruce Lee. Fifty episodes! I can’t think of anyone else such an extensive work has been done about. Not all in one series like this. But I must say it took me back to that day in the theater, and it reminded me of how I have kept the fire burning in my belly ever since.
Bruce Lee was an apostle, an ambassador for Chinese Kung Fu, and his Jete Kune Do. (Maybe I got that right.) At any rate, he was fully dedicated and devoted. He showed us what a true warrior is. It’s not hard to translate Bruce Lee’s example, or the Apostle Paul’s example into the circumstances of my own life. Am I a warrior for the Kingdom of God, having true effect against evil principalities scripture tells us about? Have I sought mastery? Or is it good enough to simply be the Christian civilian that the warriors have to constantly protect and rescue?
In this series I plan to use not only Bruce Lee and the warrior’s journey as an analogy, but I also want to use Star Wars and the need of a true Word of God awakening! What has God actually said?!
In another place the Apostle Paul challenged Timothy to endure hardness as a true soldier (warrior) of Jesus Christ. Do we know this hardness? Are we on fire? Where do we start?
I hope these writings will inspire. I pray they will motivate us all. And where should we start? What is the mastery we seek? Our power is in our Priesthood. We need to learn how to walk with God. Not a Skywalker, but a Godwalker, an Enoch people. I hope you’re with me on this warrior’s journey. I intend to inspire myself, but I hope I’m not the only crazy person that feels this way and sees these things.
I may write several things over the next 4 days, so stay tuned. We’re just getting started.
Path Without End 