“Father, if you
are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”
(Luke 22:42)
During the days
of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries
and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of
his reverent submission. Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what
he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation
for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order
of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 5:7-10)
If you love me, you will obey what I
command. (John
14:15)
but
showing love to a thousand└ generations┘ of those who love me and keep my commandments. (Deuteronomy
5:10)
“You’re my hero.”
“You’re a superhero.”
Where I last worked, they went through a phase in which every little thing one did seemed to result in one being called a hero or superhero. Convince someone to sign up for a credit card? Hero. Convince someone to buy the longer warrantee? Oh, superhero. How does that compare with saving lives at the risk of one’s own? It’s an insult to every true hero throughout history!
As much as it galls me, I’m reconsidering at least part of my thinking about at least a part of that practice. No, soliciting credit applications isn’t a heroic activity. Manipulating other people to do something that may not be in their best interest is not heroic, even if it benefits a greedy corporation. The parody in my workplace might not have been so irritating if it hadn’t been a ridiculous exaggeration of a truth. Heroism involves obedience and self-sacrifice in the name of a higher good or deeper truth.
Of all the characteristics demonstrated by Jesus, two repeatedly mentioned and connected are love and obedience. The person who claims to love God (whether the Father, the Son or the Spirit) must obey God. Let me save you the trouble… none of us except Jesus ever loved God as He should be loved. I don’t even love myself enough to obey myself – at least my best-self. I love my worst-self enough to obey it. I eat things my body doesn’t need, and don’t eat things it does because, just because…. Everyone except Jesus has at least one area in which our obedience and there our love fails.
As a writer, one of the things I’ve learned is that in telling a story, a character needs to grow. The hero doesn’t start out as much a hero as she ends up. The best stories have struggles, sometimes long, desperate struggles against seemingly insurmountable odds and great danger. There are times when things look grim, and in the end, the hero may not have accomplished what she set out to, but she’s become a better person, a person who is more obedient to higher virtues and values and laws.
I’ve said before that this past winter I started practicing “bending the knee” and more recently, I’ve been learning that one must continue to bend the knee even when both knees hurt. As yet, I don’t think I’ve really learned that lesson in life. As we learn to say, “Not my will, but Thine be done, O Lord,” we will learn to love and obey, and in doing so, become heroes according to the Bible’s definition.
“You’re a superhero.”
Where I last worked, they went through a phase in which every little thing one did seemed to result in one being called a hero or superhero. Convince someone to sign up for a credit card? Hero. Convince someone to buy the longer warrantee? Oh, superhero. How does that compare with saving lives at the risk of one’s own? It’s an insult to every true hero throughout history!
As much as it galls me, I’m reconsidering at least part of my thinking about at least a part of that practice. No, soliciting credit applications isn’t a heroic activity. Manipulating other people to do something that may not be in their best interest is not heroic, even if it benefits a greedy corporation. The parody in my workplace might not have been so irritating if it hadn’t been a ridiculous exaggeration of a truth. Heroism involves obedience and self-sacrifice in the name of a higher good or deeper truth.
Of all the characteristics demonstrated by Jesus, two repeatedly mentioned and connected are love and obedience. The person who claims to love God (whether the Father, the Son or the Spirit) must obey God. Let me save you the trouble… none of us except Jesus ever loved God as He should be loved. I don’t even love myself enough to obey myself – at least my best-self. I love my worst-self enough to obey it. I eat things my body doesn’t need, and don’t eat things it does because, just because…. Everyone except Jesus has at least one area in which our obedience and there our love fails.
As a writer, one of the things I’ve learned is that in telling a story, a character needs to grow. The hero doesn’t start out as much a hero as she ends up. The best stories have struggles, sometimes long, desperate struggles against seemingly insurmountable odds and great danger. There are times when things look grim, and in the end, the hero may not have accomplished what she set out to, but she’s become a better person, a person who is more obedient to higher virtues and values and laws.
I’ve said before that this past winter I started practicing “bending the knee” and more recently, I’ve been learning that one must continue to bend the knee even when both knees hurt. As yet, I don’t think I’ve really learned that lesson in life. As we learn to say, “Not my will, but Thine be done, O Lord,” we will learn to love and obey, and in doing so, become heroes according to the Bible’s definition.
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