Masculinity of the Mind

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart (lebab), and with all your soul (nephesh), and with all your strength." - Deut 6:5.

Lebab: m. mind
Nephesh: f. soul

As most of you know, I am writing a book on femininity and the reflection of that femininity in the image of God. But this has of course spurred curiosity on my part into the masculinity of God and that reflection in man. One of the areas where we recognize masculinity in all mankind is the mind.

This threw me for a loop because there seems to be a somewhat slight sense of disdain for this concept on the part of women because they think that what is actually being said is that the mind being masculine means it has nothing to do with their femininity. Well... I wish to absolve that fear in saying this is absolutely not true. In the same way that men have a feminine side, women have a masculine side. This is internal not external meaning that within my being I can be completely abundant in Christ. My external existence is of course only feminine meaning that this feminine role of my body obviously cannot reproduce on its own. I must have the involvement of the masculine to be externally abundant (children.) But internally I reflect both the masculinity and femininity of God.

Now why exactly do we attribute masculinity to the mind and femininity to the soul? It is the role of the mind that mimics what we know of physical masculinity that creates this definition for us. The thoughts of the mind transcend the barriers of time, meaning that they can travel from the past, flow through the present and continue on into the future. They are not confined to the present. These thoughts of the mind mimic the offspring of man - his seed. The seed of man travels on in his body constantly generating anew and when resulting in fertility, carries on the name of his forefathers and bears resemblance in their future existence as his offspring. The physical functioning of masculinity in its potency can be seen reflected in the mind of an individual.

Why is the soul feminine? The soul and emotions can only be expressed in the present. What we know of femininity in the physical realm is that its power is in its presence. A woman forever carries her seed within her from the time of birth. Her fertility is existent in her and departs only when it has not resulted in offspring. When a woman procreates, she continues on housing the child in the present, even though the masculinity of the process has concluded. When the child is born the feminine again functions in the present to meet the immediate needs of a child. Her body is designed to meet the needs of the present. Man's body is not. What we know of the soul and emotions is that they can only be experienced in the present. You can think on past emotions and stir up those feelings anew but it was the thought that transcended time and brought the emotion to you. Emotions can only function in the present.

So what can we learn about the inter workings of the mind and soul? Thoughts without expression are impotent. Emotions without the penetration of the mind are chaotic. They cannot function independent of each in yielding purpose; but together they soar.

Most people do not have a problem with understanding femininity or why emotions and the soul are associated with her. But masculinity seems to be a touchy subject. May I remind you though... that if you are a woman who is easily angered by this concept but you have not bothered to think it through then you are not helping to support your position of femininity and emotion vs masculinity and mind.

Does God refer to the masculinity of the mind? He does indeed.

" The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts (lebab) and the hearts (lebab) of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart (lebab) and with all your soul (nephesh), and live." - Deut. 30:6

We do not circumcise femininity. Femininity is however penetrated and we learn much in the New Testament about the penetration of the soul (Heb. 4:12) and the circumcision of our minds. To circumcise femininity is to strip her functioning and pleasure from her being. This is never required by God. Femininity is meant to be expressed uninhibited but functions in the covering and protection of masculinity. If you would like to inhibit your femininity as it was created in the image of God, then by all means... circumcise yourself. As for me, I vote to start exercising the masculinity of my mind and the femininity of my soul and to truly LIVE!!!

An Open Door With the Children

Last winter our small church group "The Gathering" was awakened to the fact that less than 1/4 mile down the road from our very church, a public elementary school sat in need. Upon closer investigation we learned just how dire that need really was. Over 30% of the students in that school came from families that were in financial crisis and at times did not even have enough food for breakfast or dinner. Something moved in our hearts at hearing those statistics and a fire was lit to do something about this. We are a church longing to be "missional" and reach out to the world with God's message of salvation. What happens all too often is that we desire to see great and wondrous works that are far removed from our own backyard. Why this is, I am not sure. And so our small group of 20 began to conduct food drives for this elementary school.

The first day we showed up bearing gifts the staff was in tears at the generosity we demonstrated. The true extent of the need was seen as the pantry was shortly emptied of all we had provided. And so this became a regular event. We appealed to the hearts of our sister churches and the need was met time and time again. Later on in the school year we organized a luncheon to show the teachers how appreciative we were of their service to our children. I have never seen so much laughter and happiness and all we did was set up a nacho bar in the midst of their busy day. But it was enough.

This summer we have focused on collecting school supplies to offer to the elementary school as they begin their new school year. What I have noticed is that the hearts of people in the church are dying to give. But we always present them with such overwhelmingly large tasks to give to. We disguise it in magnificence for the Kingdom of God. But I tell you the truth, I have seen more heart felt greatness and magnificence this last year in our very own backyard than I ever saw in my 12 years on the mission field. You don't have to think big to do big things. All you have to do is meet the needs closest to home and that makes you a true missionary at heart.

It reminds we of the story in the Bible of the elderly widow - Luke 21: 1-4. What she gave was minute compared to the large gifts given by the rich. But Jesus looked at her gift and said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put in more than all the others". We can dream of giving greatly to impact places on the other side of the world, but can you impact your immediate neighborhood? I encourage whoever happens to roll through my blog and read this to begin to search out opportunities within your church and within your neighborhood to bring Christ to them through meeting needs. You may think that the effort is too small but no effort is too small in the Kingdom of God. It is enough.

Wall-e

Today I went to see Wall-e with my 5 yr old. It was cuter than cute. I highly recommend it! There were also some extremely deep and profound messages in the movie. I don't want to spoil it for anyone so I will refrain from posting in the main body what I thought. If you get a chance to see it, feel free to relay your thoughts on what touched you in the movie.