In His Image

I have heard a few times in the recent past from a couple of young people that being raised in a conservative (Mennonite) home left them ill prepared for dealing with “life” and reality as they know it.  I have been pondering that for a couple weeks and I would like to share some thoughts about being prepared for life.

As parents, we endeavor to train our children up in a path that is best for them.  No, it is not the most exciting path, neither is it the most daring, or risky path, but it is the safest and best path that we know of!  Our goal is not to deprive them of worthwhile experiences, but to steer them through the rough waters of life so that they can then learn how to chart their own ship to avoid capsizing, or crashing on some shoal.  But what happens if a child thinks that we are not steering them correctly?  That we are somehow not allowing them to experience life to the “fullest” of what they see the world can offer them?  Should we be giving them some more instructions as to how to live in the world, as the world, while trying to maintain their Godly moorings?

As I was praying about this, the Lord brought to mind this analogy.  In this world, we have many roads.  There are a tremendous amount of different roads, and not matter where you live, you will encounter them.  Now one thing that I think every parent tries to teach their child is to stay off the road!  The road is not a play land where you can romp around and dodge cars!  No, there is too much danger there to allow your children to play on the road!  And so we teach them that there are rules in how to deal with the roads.  There are specific places where you can cross a road safely, and when you need to move along a road, there are traffic rules and laws that can greatly increase your safety while on this dangerous concourse.  But then your children look over at the neighbor’s children and see them running back and forth on the road, dodging between cars, and laughing when one gets close enough to almost knock them into the hereafter!  And to your children, that looks like fun, it looks very exciting and they don’t see those children getting hurt at all, and they start to doubt whether what you said is true.  Now my reasons for telling my children to stay off the road were not to prevent them from enjoying life, but to protect their lives so that they can enjoy them longer!  Our desire is for their safety and well being, to shelter them from danger that they cannot perceive, but that we know is there.

In our families’ spiritual lives, we are seeking to shelter our children from the temptations and snares of this life.  We seek to teach them how to interact with the world according to God’s rules of the road, for there IS safety in them.  We try to teach them to stay off the road where there are temptations and dangers far greater than they can imagine, so that they will not have to be tempted beyond what they are able to bear.  You see, the “cars and trucks” on this highway of life, are not driven by caring human beings who will do all they can to avoid running over a child, but instead they are “driven” by the devil and his minions.  Jesus told us that Satan goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he can devour.  He is not trying to keep us from turning into a spiritual casualty; he is trying to make us into a spiritual casualty!! And so we teach our children that it is safer to obey the rules of the road that God Himself made and enforces, for then are they safest from Satan’s attacks, for he cannot go where God forbids him.  How do I know that?  Because when we are under God’s authority, God has promised that He will not allow any temptations to come our way that we will be unable to stand up to, but will with every temptation also provide a way of escape. 1 Cor. 10:13

So, do we teach our children to juke and jive around the devils devices, or do we teach them to stay out of temptation’s way in the first place and to learn God’s laws of this life and abide by them, so that they will know how to live amongst all these dangerous “roads”?

If you are a young person who was taught God’s ways, and you have turned to what you think is better and are winging it on your own, then understand that God’s promise of temptations deliverance is not for you and someday you will not be able to jump out of the way quite fast enough and will wonder how you could have smashed your life up so badly.  I suggest to you to read the book of Proverbs.  Start with the chapter that is the same as this month’s date, and read through the book of what the wisest man wanted to convey to his son.  Note how much this father sought to have his son follow truth and righteousness, not to cause him hardship, but to preserve his life.

How about you and I?  Are we doing what we know is God’s best, or are we flirting with the devil?

In today’s day and age when many of my peers are choosing that the veiling is a relic from the past, I wonder if they know what they are casting aside, or is it just an indication of where their hearts are really headed.  For many of the people my age, and yes, even those older, the veiling has always been taught as a headship covering showing to the world that the wearer was in submission to her husband, parents, the church, and hopefully, to God.  And while that is a very valid and important part of the veiling, I also firmly believe that there is such a beauty we miss if we don’t look beyond I Cor. 11 for what else the Bible might have to say.

I am thrilled to be married to a woman who is veiled, and here are the reasons why!

To understand the basis of the veil, you need to understand a bit of Glory.  From Genesis to Revelation, Glory was always veiled.  Adam and Eve were created and both were in the glory that God intended for them to enjoy, but when sin came into the world, then God “veiled” them in goat skins, and they were “veiled” from the presence of God.  They could no longer see His face!  Then when God’s glory came down to the Tabernacle, once again, it was not there for everyone to see, but only for one person, and that only once per year.  God’s glory was hidden from the public by a veil, and that veil was never removed until His Spirit no longer dwelt there and then it was rent in two.  Even today, God’s glory, the Church, is hidden from the world.  To those who are without, the church seems ridiculous for the weird ways we worship God, yet for those of us who walk in His Spirit, God’s promises and truth, are precious and literally life and peace!  But it sure doesn’t look like that to those who walk in the flesh, because the Glory is still veiled from them till His return!

So what does this have to do with women and the veiling?  In the Bible we are told that a woman’s long hair is given to her for her glory.  It is part of the feminine beauty that God has given to her.  But here is where the problem comes in.  You see, back in Genesis, when God was done with creating the world, He said it was good.  And when the God who can breathe out the stars, says that something is good, you’d better believe that it is knock your socks off, good!  But Satan cannot stand anything that God has designed to be glorious!  Because he knows that it reflects the beauty and image of his arch enemy, God!  Everything that God designs to be glorious, Satan will do his best to make it common place, or even distasteful.  And the vice versa is also true, everything God warns against and says to avoid, Satan will put all the shine and luster on it he can, to convince you that that is what you really need to be happy, fulfilled, or in this case, beautiful!

And so Satan starts to convince men and women that her hair is not really all that glorious, especially when it is bound up and hidden, but would look better exposed and hanging!  And for a while, people were askance at the shamefulness of walking around in public with your hair exposed!  But after a while, that which God wanted to be glorious, became common place, and even bothersome!  So Satan continues to lead us into his viewpoint by telling us that the long hair is not really all that glorious, in fact it is a bother, and why not cut it shorter?  It will surely be easier to take care of that way, and besides, it will make you look better!  And so the lie goes on.  Satan is not really concerned about her beauty, he just wants to steal her God given glory away from her!

If you think I am being far-fetched, let me use this same mentality on a different area.  In Ontario Canada, it is now legal for women to go topless in public.  Now Solomon, in all his wisdom told his son to always be ravished with his wife’s body, but only his wife’s body!  Including the parts that Ontario now says can be freely viewed and enjoyed by all!  Now let me ask you, if you were to go to work tomorrow and see a woman walking topless along the road, would you think “There is a woman of Godly beauty?!”  Of course not!!  It is shameful for a woman to go about so!  Even disgusting!

Ladies, God has given you so much beauty, that you can drive men crazy with it!  But it needs to be kept for your husband so that you can enjoy it together!  Otherwise, it becomes cheap and common, almost totally lacking in glory, and you will have given away a precious treasure that God meant for your enjoyment!  Remember, Satan is trying to tell you that you are not beautiful unless you expose your beauty for all!  Don’t buy into his lie!  God has given you women a tremendous privilege in gifting you with so much more beauty then us men!  When God was trying to describe the beauty of His Church, He didn’t compare it to a man, He compared to a beautiful bride adorned for her husband!  You are beautiful just the way God made you, and if you keep those treasures hidden for your husband, they will be so much more precious than if treated carelessly or with little worth.

But here is the best part!  If you are a single lady who is modestly dressed and veiled, you are telling those around you that you, that when you get married, the best is yet to come!  It is hidden for that day!  Oh Glory!!  Ladies!  You have the privilege of telling the world that the beauty that the Creator has placed in you, is just a foretaste of the beauty that is to come!  And just as you cannot see the glories that God has in store for us, so you cover your glories for the day when you will be married!

Yes, the veil is also a sign of being submissive to the role God has for you, but I see it as so much more than that!

Men! What does this have to do with us?

First of all, if we want to see our wives and children living in submission to us, we need to examine if we are setting a good example of being in submission to the authorities God has placed in our lives.  Our church leaders, parents, local authorities, are just to name a few.   But we also need to choose which standard of beauty we want to see in our wives and children.  Do we want to see one that upholds God’s standard of purity and chastity?  Or the one in the world that Satan wants us to see, of distorting God’s beauty into an unachievable lie?  We as men set the tone of how privileged our wives feel in this role through various ways.  Do we give them ALL of our “attentions” or do they see us glancing lustily at the billboard or jogger along the road?  Do we affirm them with words of encouragement and cheer when they feel a little less than glamorous at times?  Do we remind them that just as Christ only has eyes for his bride the church, we also pledge to only have eyes for her, and are satisfied with her?  And even on our own standard of dress.  Am I willing to dress in a way that doesn’t draw attention to my body?

Most importantly men, am I so enthralled with my Divine Creator, that she also feels excited about being a part of this preparation for the marriage supper of the Lamb, or does she feel that she has to bear this burden alone?

It reminds me of the lady who requested that when she died, that she be buried, holding a fork in her hands.  When the pastor asked ‘why’, she told him that whenever the main course was finished at a luncheon, and the servers instructed people to keep their forks, you knew that something really special was coming for desert!

On the day I got married, I knew that the best was yet to come!  So it is with God’s glory!  Let us affirm the beautiful plan that He has given us, and practice it with JOY, not woeful resignation!

I realize that there are not many men my age who are fathers to seven children, and beyond that, excited about it, but why do so many people think that we are trying to follow the Duggers? I get it wherever I go. “Oh! have you heard about that family in Arkansas who has 18 kids?!” As if we somehow heard about them one day and decided, Yeah! I want to be just like them!

Those of you who have large families, know that the work load is extremely high and the cost great to your social life, but if you want to have a successful family, it takes sacrifice and hard work. In today’s day and age, I don’t see many people wanting that for their life’s goal. I am among them. I would like to keep the personal sacrifices to a minimum because they are not easy. I like easy. Life is more enjoyable that way. But real purpose in life is not found that way. It’s not in trying to mold yourself into a shape that you think fits your goals, it is finding out from the manufacture what mold He had in mind when He made you! Then as we seek Him to guide us into His perfect plan, He gives us the joy and purpose in life and it is HIS purpose, not our own.

What does this have to do with the Duggers? Not much, except to say that Paul told us not to compare ourselves amongst ourselves. Why? Because then we start comparing the different molds that God has given each one of us. God does not call everyone to have a large family. Some days I wish He wouldn’t have called us like He did. But He did, and that is where it stands. I don’t hold up the Duggers as a pattern to be replicated as much as possible because for me to say that we should all be like them, is to say that the mold God maybe has for you, is not as good as the one the Duggers have. Neither is it right to say, “I am NOT going to be like them, that is TOO much.” We must each seek God on our faces and ask Him what He is calling us too, and then follow that with all our hearts and not look back.

Do I want to have as many children as we can? No. Do I want to quit having children, No. Neither do I want what the Duggers have! I want God’s best for OUR lives, because He knows what is best for me! And if that means that we someday drive a bus instead of the USS Stauffer, then so be it. But it will be because of HIS leading not someone else’s, and I want Him to have the glory, not ourselves or any other earthly thing.

We do not like to think about pain, we run from it! But what is God’s heart feeling right now as He looks at this world? We say we want the heart of God? Do we? Are we willing to feel His pain?

This has stirred my heart in a way I cannot express. Below is the excerpts from one of David Wilkerson’s Messages. This is the man who wrote “The Cross and the Switchblade.” He is a much older man now, but his message for us is one that comes out of years of ministry, and a brokeness seldom seem today.

If you want to download the entire message, I have included links to the mp3 files at the bottom.

These files are split into 5 parts to make it easier to download.  If you want to download it for future listening, just right-click on the link and then click “Save As” and put it in a file of your choosing.

A Call to Anguish – Part 1
A Call to Anguish – Part 2
A Call to Anguish – Part 3
A Call to Anguish – Part 4
A Call to Anguish – Part 5

A friend of mine posted this on his site and it is so close to where we are right now that I just had to share it with ya’ll.  (If anyone other than David reads this)