| | ---Watching the Dragons---
ANGRY, ANGRY DRAGONS (As opposed to placid, placid salamanders... of course)
There is a purpose for the emotion of anger: It brings about resistance when we or those we love are threatened. Without it we lay down and play victim. Anger protects, in that it motivates us to destroy that which has attempted to destroy us and those we love. Without Anger, we remain victims and create more victims. It is very sad that we only seem to learn two ways of dealing with the injustices in our life/culture/nation which almost do us in (playing victim and playing dead). We have forgotten that anger is an inherent motivator—it also pushes us to slay the dragons in ourselves. When we no longer hate that which is killing us, we no longer "watch for the dragons,” we just accept them as an evil we cannot overcome, an enemy too large to face.
THE DRAGON THAT BURNED YOU
Everyone it seems has had something nearly destroy them physically, emotionally, or spiritually. We all have our Dragons/Inner Demons/Fatal Flaws peculiar to us.
Some people have a Dragon with a bottle in its hand--instead of facing it, they allow it to grow to the point that they beat their wife, neglect to buy food for their children, lose their job, kill someone drinking and driving. Some people have a Dragon with a Vanity Mirror--instead of learning humility by service, they alienate friends and family and belittle others near them, even compromise their values all for the sake of keeping the spotlight. Still others have a Bashful Dragon, one that never speaks up no matter how grave the injustice, no matter how much abuse, that the person or even those they love endures… a force in them that leaves them paralyzed, ending in "Death by Neglect" to anyone unfortunate enough to need that person for leadership or protection.
DRAGONS ARE INHERITABLE
The abused becomes the abuser, the child of an alcoholic becomes an alcoholic, the unwed teenage mother becomes the unwed teenage mother, and the fatherless boy becomes the walk-away Joe. Without anger, we’re left with acceptance. What we accept, we will become. I (Matthew Ung) have domestic violence going back 4 generations on one side, and severe clinical depression going back 4 generations on the other side. The buck has stopped here with me. I don’t live in fear it will ever avenge its death because I’ve never since given it reason to think it has the authority to resurface, and I never would anyway. Don’t tell me it can’t be done. And don't tell me it's a lifelong process.
GETTING BURNED
We have all been burned by the dragons within us or the dragons in others. All too often, the dragons in one soul will plant its eggs in another. They don't just rise up in one person and burn them, and leave. They seek to destroy the person they inhabit and everyone around them--and then are hatched again in that person's children or family, or another breed of dragon is hatched in their victims (the victim of childhood rape loses self-worth and becomes a prostitute) which is a model of sexuality passed onto her children. The same one just keeps burning and biting the person, then their children, then their grandchildren, then their great grandchildren, almost like the eggs are in the gene pool.
DRAGONICIDE
God has all the teaching available to us. As Jesus preached on the Sermon on the Mount, the tools and diligence of both the wise and foolish man are the same (they both build a house, they both finish the house, and they both face the same rains, floods, and winds)—the difference is in OBEDIENCE (faithfulness), because what we accept becomes our worldview upon which we literally build our every decision upon. For this, admiration alone means absolutely, positively, nothing.
If we won’t protect our families, we don’t love our families. If we won’t protect our neighbor, we don’t love our neighbor.
How Do We Face Our Dragons?
POP CULTURE MODEL: “POOR ME, I WAS BIT BY A DRAGON.”
In popular culture we learn to be a "Perpetual Victim"--to whine, go on some talk shows, see a therapist, and while these things are good to a point they don't really prevent that which almost destroyed us from harming other people or even coming back to bite us again. In effect, we dance around the issue, then spend our time in hiding.
UNGODLY CHURCH CULTURE: “I’LL PRAY ABOUT THIS DRAGON THAT IS EATING A WHOLE GENERATION AND READ A BOOK ABOUT IT.”
We too often learn that it is a "sin" to be angry (it’s only a sin to SIN while angry—anger DOES make it easier, but it DOES NOT inexorably lead to it), that something is wrong with you if experience any emotion aside from a naive happiness, even when we’re surrounded by things that should bring outrage, concern, heartache and eventually, action.
But that seems to be reserved for people in ministry positions who get fired for doing anything that isn't passive. Talking about doing something now makes people heroes, actually doing something makes them fanatics. So in effect, we listen to a hellfire speech about the awfulness of our dragons, shake our fist, rattle our Sabers, put on our suit and tie armor, eat a 2 hour lunch, then go home and “fuggedaboutit.”
BIBLICAL MODEL: DESTROY THE DRAGON.
Anger created many biblical “counter-revolutionaries,” from killing the priest of Baal (who promoted child sacrifice), to Eleazor who "couldn't let go of the sword” to Jesus who was so outraged that a local church of His time was turned into a secular market that He flipped the tables over! WDJD? (What DID Jesus Do?) He shattered the stumbling blocks rather than ignore them.
Faith bears action based on belief, not just belief (look at Abram/Abraham). God commanded the people to destroy the things that constantly ensnared them so they wouldn't ensnare future generations--count the dozens of times He commands people to remove all semblances of their pagan past, all of the alters, all of the symbols, all of the rituals, all of the sacred places, and even to change their names.
GATHER THE TROOPS
Whenever someone was given a mission, they were almost always given someone to stand by their side. Adam was given Eve, David was given Jonathan, Moses was given Aaron, Jesus (Yeshua) was given 12 Apostles, Paul (Rabbi Sha'ul) was given Timothy. Almost every personal Dragon only exists because a lack of community. We stand united, or fall divided (gee, I’ve heard that somewhere…).
DON’T STOP WITH THE DRAGON IN YOU
Kill its breed wherever you see it. After you have overcome your own problem (frankly), fight for the freedom of others. Once you become a "Veteran" of this particular war with this particular enemy, you’re in a place to command a greater sphere of influence. If you don't help others, if you fail to keep the sword sharpened, when dragons return you won’t be ready. Some of this is just warning your friends, so they can fight their own fight, and some of this is what Elmer Fudd would call “Dwagen Hunting.”
FIND YOUR SWORD
A man once had a dream in which he was led underground, down a stone fortress, where many swords rest against the walls, dusted over and under cobwebs. Jesus was describing the battle raging outside the fortress, to which the man interrupted, “but Lord, so many have left without their sword!”
What is your sword?
Matthew Ung
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| | Posted 5/16/2008 12:47 PM - 30 views - 2 comments
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