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You Should Be a Monster
As the father of six children, three of which are girls, two of whom have developed into amazing Christian women. God has called me to provide and protect them until one day when they can form a family of their own and I (reluctantly) pass the mantle of protection over to their husbands. But what does it mean to "protect" in a day and age when many male virtues (strength, competition, self-assuredness, etc) are under attack?
I think it is best stated by Jordan Peterson when he says, "You should be a monster!". This is the story of Beauty and the Beast. As a man and a father, I am called upon by God's design to be a monster. The caveat is that I am to control it whereby I express love and compassion for others until they disobey God's laws at which time I should be prepared to go full monster.
The meek shall inherit the earth Pslam 37:11
Jesus taught us that the meek will inherit the Kingdom of God. However, what does Jesus mean when he calls us to be meek? He is not calling us to let evil go unpunished. Instead, he is calling for us to carry a sword of righteousness, know how to use it, but to keep it sheathed until forced to pull it out and defend those who need to be defended. By doing this you will inherit the world.
You do not want to sheath your competitive instinct. On the contrary, you want to develop it, train it, make it ready to be used for the glory of God when called upon. You have to learn to compete ethically and within the confines of the rules of the game. Monsters don't cheat. Monsters also respect their opponents and seek out the best to sharpen themselves. Like iron sharpens iron, so does one man sharpen another. However, going through life undefeated does not make you a monster, it makes you someone unwilling to grow because you spurn the ultimate teacher, failure.
Dr. Peterson defines winners as someone "who never let losing stop them". He posits that life is not a game but instead a series of games and you are never going to win all of the games so you must learn to be a good loser and learn from your failures. That is how you grow the monster inside you. We should be picking the games in life where. When we enter the arena, loss is always a possibility. You want to grow, don't go through life undefeated.
The Beast only gets Beauty because he is willing to be a monster to protect her. As sons of Adam, we are all called to be brothers, husbands and fathers who righteously develop our own monster. Who can unsheathe the sword when necessary and those in the name of Christ. Only then can we truly be meek.
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