Jesus told His disciples that men could belong to culture (the world) or belong to Him. He then proceeded to tell them He had “chosen” them out of culture and brought them intentionally into His community.
He knew both communities were available to men and that each would have its own impact. One would produce pain. The other would reduce it. One would bring hopelessness. The other would bring hope.
This idea of communities of men who believe their purpose is to be aggressively good in their time on earth resonates deeply and is relevant to all on the receiving end of that goodness. What do you call movements of men who have decided to answer the bell of history and come out of their corner ready to fight for such an unexpected revolution of masculinity? What do you call a wave of men who meet the demand for life-givers vs. destroyers, blessings to humanity vs. curses, redeemers vs. villains?
I call them the dangerous good.
Without fail, every revolution of good is composed of those whose blood is boiling and heart is breaking at the same time. I am praying for both of those to happen right now in you.
The dangerous good revolution will be composed of those men who have had a Spirit-empowered wake-up call so powerful that it takes over their purpose for the rest of their life. Men from diverse backgrounds, ethnicities and cultures will have this spirit in common. These ordinary men who are living in this extraordinary moment of history will be remembered for one thing—they rose up and fought the good fight with their brothers. They understood the heartbeat behind Edmund Burke’s observation: “When bad men combine, the good must associate, lest they fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.”
Being connected to the dangerous good means that being known as a “good guy” is not enough. You recognize that the “good guy” label is a defensive and selfish posture that is sought after so that you don’t get lumped in with the thugs, the jerks and the tools of this generation. It’s safe but it’s also a waste of energy—it benefits nobody but yourself. Dangerous good, on the other hand, is proactive, other-centered and aggressive in the best of ways. It’s spiritual aggression that has its eyes on a higher prize—taking territory back from evil in your world.
It’s exciting to be a part of something so big, powerful and positive. It’s also a worthy thing to help redirect the discussion about men in the public arena away from one universal caricature to one that reflects a meaningful social expression of good.
I try to stress the kingdom dimension to everything because this movement can’t be a rah-rah speech. When you have studied men’s movement history as I have, a picture emerges of a lot of inspiration but not a lot of meaningful community to foster real progress and impact. Trust me—I was there. Inspiration is meaningless without a real commitment to connecting with other men on a consistent level.
That is why I am making no assumptions based on past men’s movements and the prospect of you becoming a part of the dangerous good. Going forward, allow your own heart, your own prayers, your own common sense and your own conscience to be your front-line voices in the masculine direction presented here. It is imperative that this generation of men approach morality and the spiritual mission against evil with a somewhat blank canvas.
But we have to define this road map very clearly. What we have discussed, informed primarily by God’s Word, should shape what dangerous good means internally, in our friendships, in our posture toward women, in our relationship with our children and with our neighbors. Only when we see clearly how relevant the dangerous good movement is for them, will it become relevant to the larger culture and world we seek to impact positively in the days ahead.
We’re living in a new age of masculinity that, ironically, requires the best of traditional male culture while jettisoning the thinking and behaviors that caused so many women and children to suffer. The men of this generation have both a massive opportunity and the daunting challenge of picking up the slack for decades of broken male culture at every level of society.
The self-serving features of the alpha male have been rejected and should stay rejected. The over-soft and sensitive features of the “omega male” created by feminism are now annoying to women and not serving women and children very well.
The hunt is on for a new blend of tough and tender, committed but compassionate, relational and rugged and ready to sacrifice but also ready to serve. So as evil presses in, planet earth, secular society and the man on the street are all being forced to, directly and indirectly, ask the truly “seminal” question of our times: “Where have all the good men gone?”
I wouldn’t have believed that possible until I read that exact headline on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. You must see, the dangerous good are in high demand but in very low supply.
And, finally, a warning. You are living in a time when gender activists are striving to create a cultural consensus: that masculinity itself is harmful and should be replaced with a more fluid version that is less oppressive, less selfish, less domineering and less, well, masculine.
It is my prayer that the dangerous good movement of Spirit-empowered men will make the case that we don’t need to neuter men of their inherent drives, natural strengths or physical tendencies—that is simply energy. The solution (versus the reaction) would be to foster and support any movement that is successfully producing men of character whereby that character is resulting in conduct that serves vs. abuses people and humanity.
What the advocates of social re-engineering are forgetting is that while men who have power and influence but lack character make the negative headlines, there are millions of men who are strong but possess good character who, by their unity and aggressive goodness, will become visible. As the dangerous good, we call this phenomenon “shining the light of Christ.”
Taken from Dangerous Good: The Coming Revolution of Men Who Care by Kenny Luck. Copyright © 2018. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Kenny Luck is the founder and president of Every Man Ministries (EMM). He previously served as a men’s minister at Saddleback Church and is an ECPA Platinum Award winner and best-selling author of 23 books, including his most recent release, Dangerous Good: The Coming Revolution of Men Who Care. Via his publishing and digital platforms, Luck reaches more than 100,000 men each week through his live-streaming events, global podcast audience, daily devotion outreach and church and individual subscriber downloads each week.
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