Articles
The Man The Lord Wants
I recently noticed a report that the famous astronaut, John Glenn (the first American to orbit earth in a spacecraft, and the last survivor of the original seven American astronauts), had died at age 95. He was admired tremendously by most Americans for his character, and his technical achievements in the space program, but his fame was also worldwide.
At the same time this news appeared, I was reading a book about another of the original seven astronauts, “Gus” Grissom, whose character was not as good (and which would have probably grown worse). Consequently, his fame was not as great. He was robbed of the chance to achieve greater fame by having died in a tragic accident, along with two of his fellow astronauts.
All of the original seven astronauts were extraordinary men; they had to be. The bar of achievement had been raised extremely high in NASA’s recruitment. The passage in the book which described the kind of men the Space Agency sought is impressive. I don’t know if it originated with the author, but It said that the astronauts needed to have “Intelligence without genius, knowledge without inflexibility, a high degree of skill without overtraining, fear but not cowardice, bravery without foolhardiness, self-confidence without egotism, physical fitness without being muscle-bound, a preference for participatory over spectator sports, frankness without blabber-mouthing, enjoyment of life without excess, humor without disproportion, and fast reflexes without panic in a crisis.”
These are also traits of character sought by the Lord in a servant.
Should he have “Intelligence without genius?” (Yes. See, 1 Corinthians 1:26-29). What about having “knowledge without inflexibility?” (It is praiseworthy. 1 John 2:4, 12-14). Could he use “A high degree of skill without overtraining?” (See Romans 12:4-8). Is there a place for “Fear but not cowardice?” (Certainly, Revelation 21:6-8), or “bravery without foolhardiness?” (Yes, Romans 8:35-39). Should he possess “self-confidence without egotism?” (Absolutely, see Romans 12:3).
As to his body, should he have “physical fitness without being muscle-bound?” (Perhaps, 1 Timothy 4:8), or “a preference for participatory over spectator sports?” (Without a doubt, 1 Corinthians 9:24). In speech, does he need to use “frankness without blabber-mouthing?.” (Yes! 1 Timothy 1:3-4). Is “enjoyment of life without excess” good for God’s man? (The famous wise man endorsed it, Ecclesiastes 2:10-11, 5:18-19). What about “humor without disproportion?” (See Solomon, again; Proverbs 14:13). Finally, should a Christian man have “fast reflexes without panic in a crisis?” (Yes. See the example in Ezra 10:10-14).
Yes, these traits, so eloquently served up to our minds by other human minds, are presented to us with even greater authority from God’s infinite repository of wisdom. They have been applied here only to Christian men, but there are ways they also apply to Christian women. So be it. Wherever God’s Word applies, let us do so, faithfully.
