Like many people who practice Jiu-Jitsu, it has become a way of life for me. One thing that I believe would be different in my case than in many others is that I don't believe Jiu-Jitsu to be "my way of life" but to be "a tool to express my way of life". God created and knows all things. He is eternal past,present and future. Jiu-Jitsu, like all things, had a purpose in God way before time and space. Not only way before time and space but infinitely before time and space. It is not that Jiu-Jitsu is my way of learning about life. For many it is, because of their love and respect for the art. Anyone who truly loves something is going to bring the best out of it. For Jiu-Jitsu's sake, respect, honor, loyalty, humility...will all be a part of the art itself to those who truly respect and love the art. In my case, God has shown me that it is not the job or the purpose of Jiu-Jitsu necessarily to transform lives. It is the job and purpose for us to transform Jiu-Jitsu. All things have been made to glorify God. Jiu-Jitsu was made for us to enjoy and to glorify God through. Without faith, values like respect, honor, humility and even kindness...are dead. If they are not used to glorify God than they are simply used to glorify self. Truly my friends, there is no respect, honor, kindness and especially humility in that. It is a perverted use of the values. The only way to produce real ripe fruit with such values is to use them to glorify God, the Creator of all things.
It is hard and a humbling experience to realize the truth of our nature. We are fallen and our nature is evil, self-centered, even when we are doing "good things". True goodness is for God's glory. Now, there is only one way to glorify God, through Christ. Christ is God incarnate. Those who glorify Him directly glorify the Father. In fact, Christ was sent in order that we could glorify the Father. There is also only one way to glorify Christ, which is by the Holy Spirit. Indeed God is 3 in 1. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. What is greater than a Triune God Who sent Himself in Christ Who suffered for all sins so that man could be reconciled back to Him and rose from the dead so that man could have everlasting life with Him. Then He sent His Spirit so that his elect would be convinced by the Spirit of sin and humbly repent to the Lord glorifying Him forever by the Spirits awesome power.
It is deep in my heart to learn more about the pureness that God created in martial arts. What were the arts meant to be? Christ has come and will come again. His kingdom has come and is here living in the Spirit. This Spirit is redeeming all things. We are in a process of restoration. Restoring all things back to there original beauty. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we are now the hands of God. Jiu-Jitsu is infinite in it's possibilities, as are all things, when in the hands of God. So God does not use Jiu-Jitsu as a means to transform us, He uses us as a means to transform Jiu-Jitsu. It is no different than what we are called to do with all things. Glorify God through and with them. This, my friends will be an infinite calling.
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