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Topic: Heroes (03/08/04)
TITLE: Heroes; few and far between! By shirley shields 03/10/04 |
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As I think on this subject of heroes I have to admit that all of mine have already passed on from this earthly life. I do have some that I certainly regard as admirable in their actions; to me they are just fellow travelers trying to reach the same goal of high calling placed on them by a loving God.
So the question is who are my heroes to date? Anyone who has completed this race of life, and left behind a reflection of the Lord’s love and actions that others carry with them. Randy Travis has a song that says, it’s not what we take but what we leave behind that matters, there is a lot of spiritual truth in that one sentence. Have we left our witness, will others recall our words of faith, our actions of love, our integrity shown to those around us?
Starting in the Bible we see many heroes of the faith, Noah, Moses, Abraham all the way down to the Apostles, many who followed and suffered for the Lord are not even named in the Bible, although God knows each of them personally for their efforts to follow.
Now connecting to my own life time I would have to include my maternal grandmother and my dad as being the biggest heroes in my own life. I still to this day have a habit of stating things she said and did, to my own grandchildren. Simple things like “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all”, pretty is as pretty does” and many more. While I know these contain no reference to scripture per say, they still hold a truth contained in scriptural living. The main thing is she loved the Lord and lived it before each of us, we recognized that she depended on the Lord for her strength each day. She loved us despite our failing to do the right thing all the time, she corrected us in love and was always walking in forgiveness to all who knew her. She finished her course set before her and left behind her reflection in each of us who loved and knew her.
Now for my dad I have to give credit for representing what a loving father figure was supposed to be. My dad was always there for us, he was always willing to sacrifice his all for our every need. He never complained about having to give up any of his own desires to meet our needs of the moment. He was always excited about every accomplishment we made, and always there to lift us up when we failed to meet the challenge. When correction was needed he was always fair and just. To those who worked with or just knew him, he was respected and known for his care and eagerness to help anyone in need. Therefore through him I could visualize my Heavenly Fathers love and forgiveness’ with his own actions for his children. His reflection of love was left behind for others as well.
Now neither of these, my grandmother or my dad was what many today would think of as heroes. In the political and /or religiously correct society today, even most of the biblical heroes of faith would be frowned upon I’m afraid.
Heroes today are those who impress you with their talents, money or position in this world, we give more recognition to million dollar athletes than to someone like Mother Teresa who dedicated her life feeding and caring for the poor. Again it reminds me of the song above, it’s not what you take but what you leave behind for others to follow that really matters in the end. What will you leave behind for those who have known you on earth? The choice is yours to make, choose you today whom you will serve.
John 3:16 For God so loved that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.