Isaiah 5:1 New International Version (NIV)
The Song of the Vineyard
5 I will sing for the one I love
a song about his vineyard:
My loved one had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside.
When you look in both the Old Testament and New Testament, we see God giving us duties. In the Garden of Eden in Genesis 1 and 2, it was care of the garden and animals. In the book of Isaiah, God describes Israel as a cultivated garden. When you look in John 15, Jesus speaks of himself as a vine, and we are his branches.
These Scriptures show us a sense of duty that work has to be completed. In the very paradise of Eden, Adam had to work the garden. He was not just sitting around and not doing anything. He was doing something.
Adam had a duty. He did have freedoms in the garden, but he also had boundaries and restrictions. He could enjoy most of the fruits in the garden except two. He could not eat of the fruit which came from the Tree of Knowledge. Then after his fall, he could not eat from the Tree of Life.
We too have freedoms in America in which this country or garden in which we live, and we have duties. We also have the price of duty. Today, we have somehow lost our balance in realizing that our freedoms come at a price. It took blood, sweat, and tears.
There is a shift to wanting to use ‘Free’. Some may disagree with what I am about to say, and that is okay. Promising free college, free insurance, and free housing does come with a price to someone. Should we help the poor and down trodden. Absolutely. But help is not about giving everything away for free.
When idealism and self sacrifice are seen as obsolete, we have slipped dow a slope and have lost our sense of duty. Duty has to be in our actions. It is doing what has to be done. It is answering a call when it comes in the night.
Our God put a sense of duty in us in the beginning of His Creation. He gave Adam a job and obligations. There was not sitting around looking for, “God, what will you give me next?”
Vital Men are called to a sense of duty. They are hard working men seeking our their pursuit of happiness by honoring God. We help and protect family, community, and country. We choose to put our duty first.
Strength and Courage
Mike
