2 Corinthians 8: 7 - 10 NKJV
It seems that everywhere I look these days I see another ad, commercial or tv show which touts the extraordinary exploits of those whom we choose to call heroes. Now, I have had this monicker bestowed on me a few times in my life, but I've never been the subject of a tv show or documentry. No, the reason that someone refered to me as a hero was simply because I chose to do the right thing under the circumstances. After all, isn't that what being a hero is all about? The man who ignores death to save the life of his comrade on the battlefield does not do it because he's ordered to...he does it because it's the right thing to do. He does it because if he didn't...another man would die. The man who rescues someone from a burning building is not a hero simply because we say it is so...but because of the life he has saved. I have a real problem with placing that label of hero upon someone who simply stands up for something. Colin Kapernick is not a hero by any means. The many NFL players who have followed suit like trained goats are not heroes in my mind either. They are simply protesting something they feel strongly about. Whose life has Colin Kaepernick saved? NOBODY! To place a two bit, unemployed former football player in that same catagory as men who have risked everything to save the lives of others is a joke. Hey, Colin, why don't you try your hand at saving a life so you can be a REAL hero? To say that this man is a hero is to say that the thousands of protestors in the 1960's were of the same caliber...wrong! In my eyes, there is a huge difference between one who talks about being a hero...and one who puts his words to action. I know of nobody who has ever been saved by someone who WANTED to do the right thing but chose not to.
"I don't measure a mans success by how high he climbs but by how high he bounces when he hits bottom"
~General George S Patton Jr.~
Far too many people would never consider the apostle Paul a hero, but to me he is the definition of the word. It is because of this one man that we today have much of what we consider to be the gospel of Christ Jesus. Far from being a follower of Christ, the man Saul was a persecutor of the early church. However, in our Lords chosen hour, He revealed that truth in Paul of Christ in him. Paul went from being on of the chosen social elites of his day to an outcast...all for Christ. To me, that makes him a hero. If we look at all that Saul gave up on that road to Damascus we begin to see the sacrafice that he made. Make no mistake, Paul suffered much after his conversion. However, he was never ungrateful, selfish or embarrassed by his condition in life. To Paul, to know Christ was his reason for living and to die he considered gain {Philippians 1:21}. So much so that he proclaimed that when he was weak then he was strong {2 Corinthians 8:10}. Paul is a hero. What of Christ Jesus? He who forsake all for the lives of so many? Is Christ a hero? Well, I believe that Jesus embodies the very definition of the word. For although His path was already laid in front of Him, he forsook all that He knew that through Him we might be saved {John 3:16-17}. These men are heroes, not some protestor claiming to be one. Once we place the well being of others above our own, then we may well one day be called a hero by someone. The hero seeks not fame, fortune or status...only to do the right thing.
1Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12: 1 - 2 NKJV
~Scott~
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