resetting your standards as a man

“Create a posse of dead people. Create an entourage of heroes.

Put their pictures on your wall, and keep them in your mind.”

David Brooks

“Walk with the wise and become wise…”

Proverbs 13:20

I am writing this from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. 

It's one of my favorite places on earth. It's one of the most scenic places in America at Christmas and is stacked against the now-defunct steel mills of Bethlehem Steel, haunted by the sounds of Springsteen singing about the struggles of the everyday man. 

It's also the Moravian Settlement named by Count Zinzendorf on Christmas Eve, 1741. 

I come here a couple of times a year to remind myself that the decline of the Western Church is neither normal nor inevitable. I come here to remind myself that every now and then, in the middle of redemptive history, a group of disciples read the gospels with fresh eyes, and their radical discipleship wakes the church and awakens the world. I come here because the Moravians came here. 

David Brooks discusses the importance of having a reference point in our minds of the heroes we seek to imitate. Sociologists tell us that the common reference point for most people is their college friends. These are the ones we track with and compare our lives to.

They often determine our sense of worth, whether we are ahead or behind, successful or struggling, and what we need to do to keep up. Most people use their college friends as a reference point because they see life from a narrow perspective, assuming the best people to learn from and measure ourselves by are our peers.

But scripture calls us to expand our vision and measure ourselves not by the people of our age but by the heroes of our faith. Hebrew 13:7 says...

“Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.”

One of the most helpful things I have done over the years is shed the sociological comparisons of our age and go back into redemptive history to be mentored by those whose fruit and faithfulness I long to see.

I consider the outcomes of leaders from the past, ask what they saw in the scriptures, what they experienced in the Spirit, and how they stepped out to follow in radical faith. 

Then, I seek to imitate that. 

This can have a radical reorienting effect on our faith.

Instead of asking how I can keep up with the income levels of my peers, I'm drawn to asking how to build a culture of prayer like the Moravians.

Instead of asking how I can live a balanced life, I ask how I can leverage what God has given me as Wesley did.

Instead of asking how to make my life more comfortable, I ask how I can be more courageous like Polycarp, who gave his life as a martyr and played the man.

I think this is incredibly important for men.

The mentors and heroes we choose will shape the lives we live, dreams we envision, and risks we take. 

Your normal will be set by the culture or the kingdom. 

I want biblical norms to shape my life.

That's why places like Bethlehem, leaders like Zinzendorf, and communities like the Moravians matter to me. They fill me with faith, expand my vision of the worthiness of Jesus, and shatter the illusion of the American dream.

The author of Hebrews understood how these shape our vision of life.

"We do not want you to become lazy but to imitate those who, through faith and patience, inherit what has been promised."

Without the right standards, we become lazy. We stop pressing in for the promises and shrink back to mediocrity. Most men get bored and lazy because they are not given a vision to summon their strength or a challenge to call them out of comfort. 

So, why not build a council of wisdom from your heroes from the past and let them stir and inspire you to press into your full inheritance next year?

Create your posse of dead people.
Hang with a new entourage of heroes.
Keep the right reference points in your mind. 

Let your standards be set by scripture and history, not sociology and celebrity. 

This past year, I started reading the 30-plus volumes of Andrew Murray's collected works. Their impact on me has been profound. Through his writing, I have gained more than any other book I read this year and feel like I have been mentored by someone who knows Jesus in a way I have yet to encounter.

This year, I also had William Carey, Howard Thurman, Zinzendorf, and Henri Nouwen mentor me from the past. 

Expand your circle of heroes.
Find the fruit from faithful lives.
Create an invisible council that spurs you on next year.

It can be as simple as writing down five names, reading five quick biographies, and analyzing key lessons from their lives.

You can even take a moment now and jot some down to explore over the holidays.

Who? Why? What fruit or faithfulness can they teach you?

1.____________________________________________
2.____________________________________________
3.____________________________________________
4.____________________________________________
5.____________________________________________

We are not limited to the wisdom of our age; we can walk with the wisdom from redemptive history.

Here's to a year of replacing sociology with redemptive history and being mentored by those who can call us into the life with Jesus we long for.

See you in the circle. 

Cheers.

Jon.