Who do we think is great?
Think about your answer. Think about what you think the answer of your friends and family might each be.
Stop reading for a moment and actually think about it, then come back.
So glad you made it back, with all the distractions of life, that was risky! Okay, let’s continue…
Who do we think is great? Let’s examine our choices.
Is it –
Those who do little that is truly honorable and good but who have gained the world’s attention by popularity and fame and wealth?
Or those who we know are truly honorable and good but that do not receive the approval and praise of the world?
This examination can be spiritually enlightening if we are honest with our answers.
We should be honest with ourselves in this question. If I tell you that you can meet one person, any person, and spend a week with their uninterrupted attention, doesn’t our choice tell us the type of person we consider a hero? Aren’t the qualities that we admire in them a reflection of what we are chasing?
Are we caught up in the circumstances or the pleasures or the temptations of this world and what is going to get us ahead in this dog eat dog world? Or have we given up being a dog and found ourselves truly a new creation in Christ, understanding the fear of God, according His grace and mercy, and trusting in Him as Faithful and True?
“It is only a faithful person who truly believes that God sovereignly controls his circumstances. We take our circumstances for granted, saying God is in control, but not really believing it. We act as if the things that happen were completely controlled by people. To be faithful in every circumstance means that we have only one loyalty, or object of our faith— the Lord Jesus Christ.” —Oswald Chambers
Do we really believe that every circumstance is in the hands of God to fulfill His will, to reconcile the world to Christ? Do we really accept that the challenge before us is there to try us, to prove us, to grow our faith and to draw us closer to God?
You see, faith isn’t about “once upon a time” you said some words or got dunked or spoke some babble or prophesied or preached or healed in His name. It is about believing. Not once believed, but believe. Faithfulness is belief alive and active.
Never let loyalty and kindness leave you! Tie them around your neck as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart. Then you will find favor with both God and people, and you will earn a good reputation.
Proverbs 3:3-4 NLT
http://bible.com/116/pro.3.3-4.NLT
Who are we looking to for favor? If it is God, if we are seeking first the Kingdom of God – we will receive the blessings and favor and good reputation amongst men as ac result of our dedication to God. But if we look to men for favor and honor and recognition, how much do we forfeit? Would we lose our soul to inherit the earth for a brief moment, for the shadow of our physical life because we don’t believe or understand eternity?
But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then.
Matthew 19:30 NLT
http://bible.com/116/mat.19.30.NLT
The world looks at its heroes in the limited perspective of now – who had the most wealth, who is the most physically attractive, who has the best physical abilities, who has the most charisma and can draw attention to themselves.
But a true hero cares not about the world other than the fact that it is fallen and they are lost and they don’t believe the truth about eternity or they would be living their lives differently.
A true hero wants to bring honor and glory and recognition of the people to God, not to themselves.
And we ask, well where are all the real heroes? But they are all around you. It may be hard to see them past the distractions of the flamboyant of the world that seek attention and honor for themselves – but they can be found if you look with discernment, if you look with your heart instead of your eyes.
Then you will see Christ in the encouraging smile of that stranger you encounter by chance and circumstance.
You will see Christ in the person that holds the door for you or helps you just because they are in the position to do so.
You will see Christ in those who go out of their way to make sure that you are helped, loved, encouraged, held accountable, built up.
You see, Christ is the hero.
We choose each day whether we are seeking Him, looking for Him, noticing Him – and what a blessed life it is to see Christ daily.
We also choose each day whether others are seeing Him.
Let your light shine. You don’t have to be the hero, you were never meant to be the hero. But you are meant to carry the hero with you and to let the world see Him.
Harold J. Ballinger 