Here Comes the Boom

Tonight, my wife and I watched the movie Here Comes the Boom.  Here Comes the Boom is about a teacher who decides to fight in MMA fighting to try and raise the money needed to save the music program and music teach at the school he teaches.  I personally am not a big fan of MMA and UFC fighting but in this movie I was moved in a way I didn't expect.  We live in a world today that does everything to strip the masculine from the man.

Within this movie, one of the MMA teachers quotes Genesis 32:24 while sitting down to dinner with other fighters.   He tells the story of how Jacob wrestled with God all night even to the point of receiving a dislocated hip and because of his tenacity, he received God's respect.  Through watching this movie, I was reminded that men are designed to be warriors.  I am not saying that all men should engage in MMA or even that you are not a man if you are unwilling to fight physically.  The fight men were created to be a part of is the fight for what is right.  In Here Comes the Boom, the main character has to do this through actual fighting.  

It does not matter if you consider yourself a fighter or not.  I am here to say that I believe all men are engaged in a battle everyday.  The enemy has done an excellent job providing distractions, diversions, and lies that keep us from realizing the fight we are in.  I contend though that all men are in a battle every minute of their lives.  Paul says in Ephesians 6:12, "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."  No matter whether you are a Christian or not, every single man on this planet is engaged in a battle.  

We are in a battle for our souls and the souls of those around us.  Why do you think that movies like Gladiator, Braveheart, Remembering the Titans, Saving Private Ryan, Die Hard, Rambo, Here Comes the Boom, and so many others elicit such a strong emotion within almost every man's heart.  We were meant to fight.  We are meant to be engage in a battle for good.  Many of the most passionate men in this world have found a passion worth fighting for whether good or evil.  Living for Jesus Christ is not something that is supposed to signify only going to church each sunday, wearing a suit, saying a prayer before a meal, and trying to live with more integrity than the next guy.  Living for Christ demands that you give your whole life over to him and live such a passionate warrior life for sharing his gospel that you are even willing to give your own life if necessary.

Greater love has no man than this, that he would lay down his life for his friends John 15:13.  Many men today wouldn't lay down their life for Jesus, more less their friends, family, or anyone else.  Selfishness and pride may bring success in this world but it will most certainly bring death in the next.  WWI and WWII are wars that many men still love to learn about.  Why? Maybe because  it was about men who were willing to sacrifice everything for righteousness, for justice, for freedom.  Isn't that what America used to stand for?  Isn't that why we used to be the best country in the world?  Our values used to be centered on God on Christ.  

Men I encourage you to take an honest look at your life and ask yourself who you have been living for.  Having you been ignoring the assault on your soul and the loved ones around you or having you been waging war with the enemy and your own sinful heart to bring truth and the gospel into this lost and dying world?  Have you been hiding behind the tv, video games, pornography, sports, job, music, cars, and more as an escape from having to truly live as a man of integrity that can bring change to the world around you?  Are you seeking the easy money, easy job, easy life, and easy choices over doing the hard things that set a man a part for Christ?  

I personally struggle with all these things each day.  There are many days that I feel as though the warrior has been all but beat out of me.  I feel weak.  I feel tired.  I struggle for purpose.  During these times I reach out to Christ and His scripture.  He gives me strength.  He reminds me who I am.  Like Peter, he reminds me that I can be the rock on which He is building the church.  Like Paul, He shows me that I am never too far gone for Him to transform me into a warrior for his kingdom.  Like Jacob, he wrestles with me to remind me who I really am and why I was created so I can rekindle the fight He instilled in my soul.  

We need to rekindle our warrior souls.  We need to revive our fight for righteousness in Christ.  There are so many things in this world worth us standing up and fighting for.  Men we need to fight for our sons.  We need to fight for the purity of our daughters.  We need to fight for the lost souls around us.  We need to fight for those locked in slavery with no voice or way to freedom.  We need to fight for the orphans who have never known what it feels like to be loved.  We need to fight for little girls, young ladies, and women who have been sold into sexual slavery and prostitution.  We need to fight for the billions starving and dying due to lack of food and medicine.  Yes, men there is many things in this world worth fighting for, even dying for.    

The tagline in the movie poster says, "No one will fight for his students like Mr. Voss."  No will fight for all these aforementioned people like you.  WIll you allow Christ to show you the man he created you to be.  I hope this blog inspires you and compels you to get out of your seat and get into a cause.  Here Comes the Boom for Christ!

In Christ,

Greg Ivey

New Year's Resolution

I became a father this past year. As I watch my boy change, grow, and face this world with wonder and curiosity each day, I am compelled to become the father and man of God he needs me to be. This year I hope to turn a new page in my walk with Christ. The four words I want to mark my Christian walk this year are: purity, love, discipline, and integrity. I have struggled in these areas the most in my time as a Christian and it has showed in my walk. How can I truly affect others for Christ when my own walk is the antithesis of who Jesus is?

This year I want to walk in purity. I want the guarding of my eyes and my heart from the lusts of this world to be my priority. As men, there are so many temptations surrounding us daily, beckoning us to sin, and yet I believe that in Christ we have all the strength we could ever need to stand strong. Our purity, not only affects our body but our families, our friends, our admirers, and most of all the Holy Spirit, who resides in our heart. We must become men of purity and rise above the jokes and stories in our workplaces, protect ourselves from those who believe men are programmed for infidelity, and fight against the lie that pornography doesn't damage our souls.

This year I want my life to be marked by love. As you read about Jesus in the Gospels, one thing I notice is how so many people are drawn to Him. I believe this is because Jesus lived a love that most people had never encountered before. His life was marked by compassion, healing, and truth. Whenever he convicted a heart, I believe he did it in love. Most people realized this and opened their hearts to this genuine Man of God. I want to live this kind of love. To not live in judgment, prejudice, and narrow perspectives but rather to open my heart to seeing each person as a child of God, worthy of love and compassion.

I have always struggled with being disciplined. I am a jack of all trades and master of none because I did not have the discipline to see the hard things through. Though lack of discipline has marked my past, I do not want it to mark my future. I truly believe that I can do all things through Christ and yet He requires me to trust Him and allow His strength to be utilized in me. I worked very hard in the last few months of 2012 to maintain a nightly bible study and pray journal. I was able to stay mostly consistent and saw the fruits from being disciplined in that area. I hope in this new year I can continue this trend and grow that much closer in my relationship with Christ.

Finally, I hope to live a life of integrity in all I do. This is very much tied to the other three traits I hope to improve this year. One of the definitions that I read on integrity referred to it as the opposite of hypocrisy. Ask just about any non-Christian in America why they aren't a Christian and you will usually hear something about hypocrisy. I want my life to be marked by a genuine walk with Christ. Whether someone likes me or not, I hope they would at least be able to say that I have a genuine walk in my Christianity. I am portraying Christ to the world and there was no hypocrisy in Jesus or His ministry.

As I walk in this new year, I hope to relay all The Lord is teaching me in these areas. May each one of you be blessed and uplifted in your own relationship with Christ this year. In this time of resolutions, be careful not to get caught up in the resolutions of this world (losing weight, saving money, working less, etc.). Not that these things are bad, merely that I hope you will put more focus on eternal applications than worldly ones. My hunch is that all your worldly goals will work themselves out in the process of growing closer in your walk with Jesus. May you all have a blessed and happy new year."!

Blessing,
Greg