"What makes Christ glorious, is an admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies."
- Jonathan Edwards
Often times in life there are reoccurring themes, those things that just seem to constantly come to the surface. The first few times this theme presented itself in my life, i brushed it off. i believe that is something that we often times do, we tend to think its the other people who have a problem, not ourselves. The theme continues to knock on my door however, it cannot be ignored, it must be accepted in, and even if grudgingly we must allow it to chisel away at our exterior, when this happens more of God is revealed in us and potentially through us.
i have always said that one of my greatest strengths is also my greatest weakness. i am for lack of a better term, a passionate person. Always have been, and always will be. When this passion is properly controlled, and harnessed, it can be very dangerous for the Kingdom of Heaven. However, if i let my passion get the better of me, go uncontrolled, look before i leap, etc. i potentially become very dangerous for the domain of darkness. Just like any other emotion, on its own passion is not sinful, it is only when we let ourselves be controlled by that emotion, when Satan is able to use it against us.
So how do i keep myself from being controlled by this emotion, and learn how to control it? Find a role model and work to pattern my life after how they handle it. Jesus is called the Lion of Judah, and for good reason, He is God, and has all power and authority on heaven and earth. He could have easily done away with any of his opposition, done anything that he wanted. But he didn't. In his book "Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ," John Piper has a chapter titled "The Lion and the Lamb," in this chapter he discusses all the ways in which Jesus lives out the perfect juxtaposition of these two diverse excellencies. It doesn't seen possible to be both a Lion and a Lamb. To be a Lion-like-Lamb, and a Lamb-like-Lion. Jesus knew how to control his passion, yes he turned over tables and drove people out of the temple with a whip that he made, but it came out of righteousness. He chose to become the lamb of Judah, instead of the Lion to give us all life. There is no greater example. Being a Lion is a good thing, but being a Lamb-like-Lion is a Godly thing. So we must "rise and rise again, until lambs become lions," but always be a lion the way that Jesus was, and never the lion that Satan tried to get him to be.
" The Lion of Judah conquered because he was willing to act the part of a lamb. He came into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday like a king on the way to a throne, and went out of Jerusalem on Good Friday like a lamb on the way to the slaughter. He drove the robbers from the Temple like a lion devouring its prey. And then at the end of the week he gave his majestic neck to the knife, and they slaughtered the Lion of Judah like a sacrificial lamb."
- John Piper Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ
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