On Being a Barbarian

Last time I spoke about becoming a Barbarian. So what do Barbarians do? What is this Barbarian stuff really look like and how does it really apply to valley experiencers? All are great questions and in time will be answered.

Let's begin with the "What do they do?" question.

Allow me a little lattitude here. I love math. It's logical. 2 + 2 will always equal 4. It will never be different. So in time you don't have to prove 2+2 = 4, you just know it. This will catch some of you off guard - don't worry, just trust me. OK, OK, getting back to my illustration. What I learned from math is that you may define something by what it is and what it is not. For example you can say the apple is green and is a true statement as long as the apple is green. You can also say the apple is NOT red and as long as the apple is not red the statement is true, it could even be green.

With that said I can say that being a Barbarian for Christ is not about rules, rituals, or regulations. It's not about bureaucracy and organization charts. It's not about being comfortable. Being a Barbarian is not about our own needs or about our own desires. A Barbarian doesn't want to be "caged" up. A Barbarian for Christ is not about "being fed" on Sunday mornings. A Barbarian can't look at himself or herself in the mirror and be OK with the fact that there are lost and hurting people in the world and they aren't doing anything to help them.

Instead, a Barbarian wants, in fact needs, to be on the front lines. They want and deisre God's passion for lost and hurting people. They are about freedom, love, passion, sacrifice, and most of all they are about following and fighting for the heart of their King. Barbarians live to love and love to live. For them God is life, and their mission is to reconnect humanity to Him. Their passion is that each of us might live in an intimate commuinion with Him who died for us. The way of the Barbarian is a path of both spirit and truth. The soul of the Barbarian is created and lives for, and is sustianed by the presence of Jesus in their lives.

What Barbarians will quickly find out is that they are not necessarily welcomed among the civilized and are feared among the domesticated - the religious crowd. Jesus wasn't welcomed among the religious domesticates. Neither were most of the Barbarians we find in the Bible.

So, valley expereincers, you're asking, "What does this have to do with me?" Here's the scoop:

You may be in the valley so God can replace your domesticated, civilized heart with the heart of a Barbarian. He's looking to replace your spirit with that of a warrior spirit. You may be in the place God desires you to be because in any other place He wouldn't stand a chance to perform a transplant. Come on, let's be real. Before we found ourselves in the valley we were content. We were complacent. We were "happy". Now we're searching for something - that thing that changes us and moves us out of the valley. Now, for some of us, we are finally quiet and still enough for surgery to be done. God is ready and willing to place within us that Barbarian heart.

I'm going through the transformation now. It won't be easy, beleive me. But I can't wait 'till I finally have that "new" heart. What about you? You want a new heart: one that beats for God? A heart that passionately desires to serve Him and only Him? Now may be the time and the place.

He's got on the surgical gown. He's gloved up. He's just waiting for you, the patient.

What God could do with a few more Barbarians.


Want to see my scar?
Mike