“Discovering the Secret of a Man’s Soul”
Looking back over all the books I’ve reviewed so far, I’m shocked to realize that Wild at Heart has somehow slipped through the cracks. After all, if I could only to choose one book to recommend to you, it would be a toss-up between The Bondage Breaker and Wild at Heart, mainly due to the huge impact they’ve both had on my life.
When I first read Wild at Heart, I took it as permission to pursue my own adventures while giving no regard to the responsibilities God had put in my life. I used it as an excuse to spend my weekends in the mountains rather than with my family at home. “Just read this book, Babe. God made me to be in the wilderness.”
Needless to say, I had completely missed the point.
Fast forward 10 years to the second time I picked up Wild at Heart and things were quite different. I was reading and journaling through the book as an assignment from my counselor and could not believe how different it seemed from the first time I had picked it up:
- As I worked through each chapter, I began to recognize how God had made me as a man, and how the enemy had strategically wounded me in many of those core areas. He wanted to keep me from living out of my true masculine heart, and it had been working.
- I learned that my desire for adventure was a good thing, however, I had been seeking to meet it in ways that would never fulfill it to the level God could. It was only once I began to trust God in the adventure of faith that my heart truly began to come alive.
- I began to understand why pornography was such a draw for me: I felt drawn towards women (part of how God made me as a man) but I feared I wouldn’t have what it would take to truly love one. So I opted for the “safe” approach to my sexuality instead.
- Lastly, God used Wild at Heart to open my eyes to the larger story of redemption that He’s invited me into—a story where I am called to fight for others who are still in bondage.
Needless to say, I believe Wild at Heart should be required reading for every guy who—if he’s being honest—recognizes his current experience as a “Christian Man” isn’t living up to what the Bible promises him.
Why? Because Wild at Heart will help them discover how everything God promises as part of the Christian life is available, but it only comes after a man gets his heart back.
I first read Wild at Heart.
Purchase Wild at Heart on Amazon today!
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Highlighting My Highlights:
I’m one of those guys who can’t read a book without a highlighter in my hand, and as far as I’m concerned, it would be a shame to mark up my favorite content and never share it with you. With that in mind, here are some of my favorite quotes from Wild at Heart:
“Adventure, with all its requisite danger and wildness, is a deeply spiritual longing written into the soul of man. The masculine heart needs a place where nothing is prefabricated, modular, nonfat, zip lock, franchised, on-line, microwavable. Where there are no deadlines, cell phones, or committee meetings. Where there is room for the soul.”
“I’ve noticed that so often our word to boys is don’t. Don’t climb on that, don’t break anything, don’t be so aggressive, don’t be so noisy, don’t be so messy, don’t take such crazy risks. But God’s design—which he placed in boys as the picture of himself—is a resounding yes. Be fierce, be wild, be passionate.”
“Why is pornography the number one snare for men? He longs for the beauty, but without his fierce and passionate heart he cannot find her or win her or keep her. Though he is powerfully drawn to the woman, he does not know how to fight for her or even that he is to fight for her. Rather, he finds her mostly a mystery that he knows he cannot solve and so at a soul level he keeps his distance. And privately, secretly, he turns to the imitation. What makes pornography so addictive is that more than anything else in a man’s life, it makes him feel like a man without requiring anything of him.”
“Why don’t men play the man? Why don’t they offer their strength to a world desperately in need of it? For two simple reasons: We doubt very much that we have any real strength to offer, and we’re pretty certain that if we did offer what we have it wouldn’t be enough.”
“Most of what you encounter when you meet a man is a facade, an elaborate fig leaf, a brilliant disguise.”
“Even if he can’t put it into words, every man is haunted by the question, ‘Am I really a man? Have I got what it takes?’”
“We’re asking the wrong questions. Most of us are asking, ‘God, why did you let this happen to me?’ Or, ‘God, why won’t you just… (fill in the blank—help me succeed, get my kids to straighten out, fix my marriage—you know what you’ve been whining about).’ But to enter into a journey of initiation with God requires a new set of questions: What are you trying to teach me here? What issues in my heart are you trying to raise through this? What is it you want me to see? What are you asking me to let go of? In truth, God has been trying to initiate you for a long time.”
“The true test of a man, the beginning of his redemption, actually starts when he can no longer rely on what he’s used all his life. The real journey begins when the false self fails.”
“A man needs a much bigger orbit than a woman. He needs a mission, a life purpose, and he needs to know his name. Only then is he fit for a woman, for only then does he have something to invite her into.”
“It is out of your brokenness that you discover what you have to offer the community.”
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Purchase Wild at Heart on Amazon today!
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