The Dangerous You: 5 Risks Great Men Take That Others Won't
Are You Dangerous?
I am a lover of books and a collector of quotes. A few weeks ago, I collected a great one from Navy SEAL commander Rorke Denver in Act of Valor—yes, he is a real-life Navy SEAL acting as a Navy SEAL—saying, “Before my father died, he said that the worst thing about growing old was that other men stopped seeing you as dangerous.”
In my fifties, I am wrestling with this. My sons are looking back at me more and more when on the trails, waiting for me to catch up, and slowing down for the “Old Man.” The writing is on the wall. The season is approaching. I’m becoming physically less dangerous.
But in God’s army, being dangerous is less about physical dominance and training and more about whether a man is willing to risk it all to compound his effectiveness as God’s warrior.
Here are five risks you must take to grow as a dangerous man:
Risk #1: Live the Dangerous Faith
Another anonymous saying that I love is, “Be the kind of man who, when your feet hit the floor in the morning, the devil says, ‘Oh no! He’s awake!’”
Radically saved men are dangerous at every age, even more so as they mature in the things of God. Unlike my aging body, following Jesus is the one way for me to multiply my danger quotient since, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)”
Then again in 2 Corinthians 4:16, “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.”
Living dangerously begins with your commitment to living dangerously close to Jesus. The most valorous men I know follow Jesus unapologetically.
Risk #2: See the Dangerous Reality
I have been seeing a trend among my twenty-something Peloton Instructors who regularly remind me through their recorded spin classes, “I see you.”
It must be a thing.
The truth is that only God sees all of me and I must press into His reality; “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:18 NIV)”
As God’s soldier, I must see the world for what it really is in order to wage war against what it is not. Every time I turn on the news I’m reminded, “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12)”
Risk # 3: Protect Your Dangerous Mind
Heraclitus rightly observed among armies, “Out of every one hundred men, ten shouldn’t even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back.”
At 56 I’m committed to bringing as many males back as men. At any cost. By all means necessary. But being the dangerous one who brings the others back is distinguished by one thing—it’s a mental game.
Baseball great Yogi Berra once joked, “Ninety percent of everything is half mental.” The mind doesn’t have to diminish with the body, although far too many once-dangerous warriors have been reduced to retired narcissists on this battlefield.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 reminds us, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”
Your mind is the greatest asset in God’s arsenal. Protect it with your life!
Risk # 4: Shut Your Dangerous Mouth
We recently interviewed Kenny Luck, the author of 24 books on men's issues including The Dangerous Good and his latest, Failsafe: Living Secure in God's Acceptance where he penned, “Publicly define your manhood by his acceptance alone. God’s acceptance is the only acceptance a man should ever consider when determining how to behave like a man… All for all. Some for some. None for none.”
In other words, we get to choose how dangerous or tepid we will ultimately be, and our mouths will bear witness to that fact. Allow God to affirm who you are. No more bragging. No more masculine pissing contests. No more competing against others.
All that matters is what God thinks (Colossians 3:23) of you—no one else. Depend on Him to train you, put you on display, and give Him glory for the dangerous man you have become (Judges 6:1-12). Dangerous men lockdown fear and take one more dangerous risk.
Risk #5: Defeat Fear with Dangerous Risk
I have a small game trap in my office to remind me that fear is a trap. I’ve decided to always say “yes” to God even when I don’t understand. It has changed my life. You are reading this because of that decision. We must allow faith to defeat fear every time.
Luck writes, “No man tells stories to other men about how he played it safe. But every man loves to tell and retell stories of the risks he took… That’s the war we find ourselves in. Fear keeps us immature.”
Lock Down Your Dangerous Self
When we are secure in who God made us and are sold-out with our faith, our newfound security in Him frees us up to make some radical steps to live our best life. Listen to our full interview with Kenny Luck here. Grow in your dangerous faith by getting around dangerous men. Click here to join our program.
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Living Dangerously,
Jim