A "Young Kings: A Young Man’s Guide to Dominion" preview....

This is part of chapter 2...

I lived right across from Tanner’s Creek, which was a large tributary that fed into the Ohio River. On the other side was a video rental store and a strip mall with a Kroger in it. I walked across the Tanner’s Creek Bridge so many times as a kid when I wanted to get something from a store. And every time I’d look off that bridge, I would be overcome by a sudden urge to jump. Sometimes I would allow my mind to imagine what would happen: splashing into the water, being encompassed by the deep, and then swimming to the edge. I never jumped. It’s a good thing because I probably would’ve gotten hurt, but that weird urge to jump into a deep hole from a high place has never left me.

In my early 20s, I was both surprised and relieved to learn that somewhere between 40 and 50% of people share this experience, sometimes called the call of the void or the high-place phenomenon. There’s been a decent amount of research into it. And most researchers think it’s the brain confusing “back away” for “what if I jumped?” In other words, even though death could occur if you followed through with that thought, the thought itself is not a secret, deep subconscious death wish. It’s just a thought, and one probably rooted in neurological pathways that have been affected by the fall.

When I was a youth pastor, I remember having a conversation with a young man who was brought to our youth group by a friend. He told me that he was gay. I asked him, “Do you have a boyfriend?” He said he did not. I asked him, “Have you ever had a boyfriend?” He said he had not. I said, “Have you ever been intimate with another male?” He said he hadn’t. I asked him, “Do you think some girls are attractive? Do you like boobs?” He said he did.

I said, “What is it that makes you think you’re gay? Actually, let me clarify that. What was the thing that first made you think you were gay?” And he told me he started having gay thoughts flash through his mind.

And I laughed and said, “Buddy, everyone has some weird gay thoughts pass through their mind from time to time. That doesn’t mean you’re gay. It means that you can’t trust something just because it arises from within you, or appears to arise from within you.”

I told him about my desire to jump when I was in high places. I said, “Should I jump?” He said, “No.” I said, “Why? It was this desire that came from deep within out of nowhere. Why shouldn’t I jump?” He said, “These are apples and oranges.” I said, “Are they? Giving in to my thoughts would truly lead to danger in my life, and so would you giving in to your intrusive thoughts.”

I actually doubt I used the phrase “intrusive thoughts.” This was many years ago, and that wasn’t something I recall people saying back then. But I said something like intrusive thoughts. I use it here because it highlights the battlefield where a man will fight many of his toughest wars: his mind. Afterall, intrusive thoughts are unwelcome intruders in your mind. Sometimes they come from without, feed to you through a form of media. But, often, they arise from within without any external trigger. In other words, some of the greatest conflicts you’ll face are internal battles with yourself.

This idea, sometimes called man versus himself, has been reshaped in modern times. In older stories, the driving lesson was something like this: there is something within me that I must master, resist, discipline, or repent of. But many modern stories, especially Disney princess stories, have a different big idea: there is something within me that I have been suppressing, and the resolution is to accept and express it.

So instead of conquering yourself, it’s about discovering yourself, your true self. This is what happens with Elsa in Frozen. “Let It Go” is her declaration that she’s no longer going to restrain the real her within.

But guys, what do you do when your inner thoughts tell you to kiss another dude or jump off a cliff? I’ll tell you what you do: you resist.

The Disney princess storyline is that you shouldn’t question your heart—that the realest you is the inner you. And yet Psalm 14:1 says, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” So clearly, our hearts can be wrong. They are not always trustworthy.

And yet Proverbs 3 tells us to “trust in the LORD with all your heart.” Notice the difference. It doesn’t say to trust your heart. It says to trust the Lord with your heart. Your heart is not your highest authority. God is.

You can see, then, why the heart is such an important area of conflict. If you want to grow into a godly man, you must understand your heart, what it is, what it does, and why it must be governed rather than blindly followed...