Hard contact sports such as rugby, American football, boxing, mixed martial arts are played by devoted Christians not afraid to profess their faith as an ingredient of their success even after a bloodied encounter. To come to terms with inner strength in any sporting discipline, one starts with the body, then the mind and finally the spirit.
It seems like a contradiction, that a man whose life is dominated by aggression and violence, would be drawn to the passive nature of church demeanour. How does Jesus work for the tough guy aspiration? The church focuses on the softer side of Jesus story.
But there are facets to the earthly life of the messiah. Jesus was not just a nice man, at least in the effeminate way the term is applied. He was a rebel, a crusader for justice, a radical teacher and a change maker who succumbed to righteous anger on more than one occasion.
The human journey of Jesus is one of transcendence over the physical and earthly experience through salvation. The characteristics of the man in Jesus are sacrifice, love, service and faith. These attributes of strength are not as popular as physical brawn.
True strength is not the external manifestation of power but inner power as our greatest battles are very internal and private. The higher values are neither male nor female but universal human attributes.
Men and women might approach spiritual destiny from different paths but the end goal is one of salvation and the harnessing of the strength of the spirit as the true focus of life. To emulate Christ requires a kind of strength that resides deep within us and the pathway is spiritual practice.
For all our investment in physicality and manifestations of strength, the real strength is the spiritual essence, the Christ spirit. Have a reflective Christmas and happy New Year.
