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Why do we do the things we do?” The biblical hall of faith is filled with men of passion and zeal. Read the names – Abraham, Samson, David and all the others and you’ll recall the tales of inspiration.
We retell them in Bible studies, sermons and object lessons to our children. But nearly every one of these heroes has a dark side, a story you won’t find on the flannel board in Sunday school. Most of these role models had some deed that they desperately wanted to hide. Consider David’s seduction of Bathsheba and the subsequent murder of her husband; Adam’s complicity in Eve’s fruit tree caper; Abraham’s failure to stand up for his sister; and Peter’s denial of Jesus to a young boy.
It hit me one day. My heroes aren’t really much different than I am. They’re human, sometimes painfully so. Paul observed in 1 Cor 7, “The good that I want to do, I cannot do.” For most of us, this is a daily reality.
Our culture has taught us that the measure of a person is on the scale of motivations. If you try to do good most of the time, you’re acceptable. But we know in our heart of hearts, that there is an evil that lurks. Uncaged, it can become a defining act. We know the stories and can fill in the blanks with names from our past. He was a great boss, until he fudged the quarterly figures and got caught. He was an amazing father, until that one time he lashed out in anger. He was a great pastor, until he was with the wrong person at the wrong place.
I’ve been a messed up man. I am a messed up man. It’s cost me a marriage, strained relationships with children, and loss of friends. But that doesn’t define me. These acts aren’t who I really am. God sees things entirely differently, and until I catch his vision, I’ll live in defeat. It doesn’t have to be that way.
Messed up Men of the Bible
Dave and Tina Samples have just released a book, Messed Up Men of the Bible, which is an intriguing title. But the subtitle really shows the strength of this book, “Seeing the men in your life through God’s eyes.” The couple take the messed up men like Peter, Saul, Moses, Solomon, Judas, Gideon, David, Moses and others and they probe their flaws.
They don’t do so in a gotcha sort of way, which is the trend in today’s world. There are swarms of sharks in the waters, circling men just looking for one single flaw. They might be parishioners, coworkers or even wives. At the first weakness, when blood is fresh and drawn, they attack. That’s not the way of the Cross, according to the Samples.
Tina talks about how she projects the failures of other men onto her own relationships and even God. She began to see her alcoholic father not as a man without hope, but as a man who had his own burdens and struggles. Rather than hold him to some unattainable standard, she began to love him and coax him back to normalcy.
Dave, who is also a pastor, continually dispenses pastoral advice in a loving way. “You can’t fix your man, but God can.” Together, they use strong counsel to help see the battle for strong men that restores and does not destroy.
The book is laid out in a conversational, back and forth fashion that should appeal to both individual readers and small groups with intuitive, thought provoking questions and conversation starters.
Maybe you’re reading this post because you’ve gone astray. You’re not alone. May we all find our way back home to grace, forgiveness and new life.
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