Who's your hero?

There is no doubt that in the world today, we love our heroes. In fact, men have probably always been infatuated with heroes. Remember the Philistines when they paraded Goliath around the battlefield. They sent him out every day to taunt the Israelites. He was their hero.

Maybe as you were growing up you had a comic book hero. Hollywood has been profiting from those heroes you had as a child. The media is profiting by presenting actors as role models and heroes. The NFL will make a fortune next week as it presents Tom Brady as a hero. Our continent was discovered by men lauded as heroes. As a country, we were founded by heroes. Our freedom was purchased with the life of heroes. Our freedom is being defended by heroes as you read this blog.

We have other heroes as well. People in your life that no-one else would probably consider a hero. Maybe if I asked you, you would not even recognize that you have been considering them your heroes. It may be your mom or your dad. It may be your son or your daughter. It may be a group of friends that you have put on a pedestal. It may be your boss at work, a teacher, a politician (though I sincerely hope not), the President, or even a pastor.

These are people that you look up to. People you would consider your role models. People that you aspire to be like. This may not be a bad thing in and of itself, but becomes a tragedy when we elevate these people too much. Herein lies the problem...

Many of our young people are looking to us in order to determine the validity of the Bible and it's truth. We are their heroes. In turn, we are looking at someone else as our hero. When we are let down by our hero we abandon what we know is right and blame it on the person who let us down. Other people then, who looked up to us, react in an identical manner. This is a continual progression.

I believe that this is at the heart of why people leave the church when the Pastor resigns. They came to church for the Pastor (he was their hero) and not for the body. Our kids abandon the church because they see us as hypocrites. We instruct them in they way that we expect the Pastor to live, but we don't try to live up to that ourselves. Our children aren't looking at the Pastor, they are looking at us. Men lose faith in the Pastor, wives lose faith in their husbands, and children lose faith in their parents. All of this happens because we are looking to the wrong person.

The Lord willing, one week from today, I will be preaching on how we correct this runaway train. Please stay tuned for updates.
For those who care to guess, I would welcome your comments on which passage you think I'll be presenting.


In Christ, Jon