A few years ago when 300 came out I was like many who went to the theaters who saw it and loved it. I remember coming out of the theater feeling something different. I just watched a couple hours of brutal fighting (its a guy movie) but it wasnt the fighting that I liked, it was the attitude of the Spartans. They represent a time when men were truly men.
We all live lives of quiet desperation and one reason I think that men love movies like 300 and Troy is because it speaks to something deep inside of them. Its not the violence, its the courage that those men represent. All men have something deep inside that calls them to be great conquerers.
One of my favorite lines from the movie Troy is from a scene when a small messenger boy alerts Achilles that he is summoned to battle. The boy expresses his fear because the man Achilles has to fight is massive. The boy says, "I wouldnt want to fight that man" and Achilles says, "Thats why nobody will ever remember your name.
In today's society we tell small children that its ok to run from fear and that there is no shame. We even get to the point where we tell people there is no shame in having shame. We as men are sort of castrated in a way. We are forced to be desensitized by those around us. What the line from that movie tells me is that in order to be great, we must become great. All men experience fear, however great men overcome the fear and become men that history remembers.
As Christians, we are required to overcome. There seems to be a wall that we all have to face and in order to get past that wall we have to overcome so many fears. We have to give our lives up for Christ in order for this wall to be scaled. This is also expressed in the book called "The Pilgrims Progress" by John Bunyon.
Now, will men remember your name? Even if you cared about such a thing, do you bare the required character to face your fear, to face the giant?
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