By Juany Harbert – Tipp City, Ohio **with quotes from John and Stasi Eldredge
The most important aspect of our beings is the heart, according to Proverbs.
“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” Proverbs 4:23 ESV
When I was introduced to the Wild at Heart message of the strong spiritual couple John and Staci Eldredge, I so identified with it. I loved the message of healing for our souls!
The more I have dove into their materials, the more I have understood the original design of a man and woman and how God created us, our hearts’ desire and our functions.
As I have shared this message, I have seen in myself and countless others the deliverance in their lives! You will see quotes from their materials sprinkled throughout this article.
The Image of God
What does a human heart need to be sustained? From a vital perspective, a man needs wildness and a woman needs beauty; in this context, we bear God’s image.
“So God created man in His own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27 ESV
Male AND Female
God created male and female in His own image. Understanding this, we discover a life of freedom, passion, adventure, and purpose.
To understand ourselves, we must know God. In a sense, God expresses Himself with both masculine and feminine characteristics.
Whatever it means to bear God’s image, we do so as men and as women. Therefore, gender is at the core of how we live.
What a Man Needs
What does a man need to be whole? He needs permission to be what God made him to be, to live from the heart and not from a checklist of what he “should” be or do.
What a Woman Needs
What does a woman need? She needs the realization that she is the apple of her daddy’s eye.
How It All Began
Prior to any mention of Eden’s garden, Genesis 2:4-8 “narrates how God formed man from the dust of the ground, from clay – born from the outback, from the untamed geography of creation.” After Adam’s creation, he is brought to Eden.
“The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there He put the man whom He had formed.” Genesis 2:8 ESV
That paradise was then to be the woman’s birthplace. Therefore, all that is beautiful – as the Garden itself – is bound to her heart.
Those unique contexts of Adam and Eve’s “birth” paints a distinction between men and women – one was created wild, the other within the comfort of beauty.
Image designed by Ohyesgraphicstudio
Genesis 1 offers a broad, cosmic creation summary. In verse 28, God gives man and woman this command:
“Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1:28 NKJV
God gave these instructions to both of them. “Woman wasn’t created as an afterthought,” but the opposite; she was the pinnacle and jewel of creation’s crown, “the Master’s finishing touch.”
Our Heart Reflects God’s Heart
The journey of the heart – as a reflection of God’s own heart – begins with desire.
“The desire that God has placed in our hearts are clues as to who we really are and the role that we are meant to play. Desire is what makes us come alive.”
“Adventure, danger, and wildness are a deeply spiritual longing written into the soul of a man.” The masculine heart needs a place to function where nothing is digital, nonfat, franchised, online, microwaveable, with deadlines nor committee meetings…you get the idea.
Even Jesus needed to gather strength in the wilderness.
Painting “Christ in the Desert” or “Christ in the Wilderness” (depending on the translation) by Russian 19th century painter Ivan Kramskoy, via Picryl
“Deep in a man’s heart are some foundational questions: Who am I? What am I made of? Do I have what it takes?”
Man’s Wild Nature
“Healthy aggression is part of the masculine design. Exodus 15:3 says, ‘The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is His name.’ Therefore, man is a warrior.”
Society tries to make man nice, well-behaved, and contained. Christendom tries to make him into the mild TV character Mr. Rogers. But, “a man that is not allowed to be somehow wild, loses heart.”
Years of neglect emasculate him. “To bear God’s image wholeheartedly, a man needs to rediscover the warrior heart in him, to restore his soul. The desire is there.
Universal core desires in a man’s soul are as follows: a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to love.
There’s nothing so inspiring to a man as a beautiful woman. She’ll make him want to charge the castle, slay the giant, and hit a home run. It’s not enough to be the hero but to be the hero to someone…to the woman he loves.”
It’s no wonder that every good story has a hero, a beauty…and an enemy.
Woman’s Inherent Beauty
There are core desires to a woman’s heart, too.
“Not every woman may want a battle to fight, but every woman yearns to be fought for. She wants to be romanced (desired, pursued, sought after). She wants to play an irreplaceable role in a heroic adventure, and she wants to unveil beauty.”
The world tends to magnify the body parts of a woman and their functions. And therefore, she tends to see beauty as the world defines it…but “her beauty is from within; it’s her essence; it’s inviting. It nourishes; it comforts; it inspires.
Beauty draws us to God. When a woman offers her beauty, she offers her heart, her presence.”
Thus, revealing the desires God has placed within her makes her oh so captivating!
Man’s wild nature and woman’s inherent beauty both flow from a heart that is alive!
Juany’s romancer and hero is her husband, Mark, of 23 years. They work in ministry and in business together, and have one adult daughter, Nicole. Juany has been a follower of Jesus since her childhood in Chile, South America, and she has served in Christian ministry in several different countries and US states.You can learn more about John and Staci Eldredge and our God-given identity at Wild at Heart. You can also experience deeper time with Jesus through their Pause app.