“Of whom the world was not worthy: they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.” (Heb. 11:38)
We lift up our heroes, we emulate them, admire them, set them above all others. And when they have served their purpose, when they either cannot or will not make us their highest priority, we cast them aside, and search for another.
It is called living narcissistically through another, and it really is all some people have my friends, their life holds meaning and value only as long as the one they have set upon that pedestal continues to serve their purpose. And that singular purpose is to assist them in feeling better about themselves.
“For I am the LORD, I change not;” (Malachi 3:6a)
We who have been born again do not have that problem, but it can in a sense enter into the lives of some who are hid in Christ when they begin to see the Almighty for all that He is, not just the parts that make them feel better.
Speak to them of the Almighty killing thousands just because they looked into the ark of the covenant, of the Lord Jesus Christ taking the time to make a whip or sitting on the Great White Throne of Judgment as He prepares to cast billions of people into the Lake of Fire, and you will see their countenance change.
Serving the God you choose to serve, or serving only the parts of Him that you admire is not dying to self for His glory, and any who do so can never say in the fulness of their heart, “Thy will be done.”
I would ask you to take the time to study the Book of Revelation and see for yourself, who are most of the people going to die at the hands of, the antichrist, or the Living God?
“When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.” (Psalm 27:8)
Not a part of His face, but the entirety of who the Almighty is.
I personally believe that this is why the Holy Spirit chose John to write the Book of Revelation, the one who loved to lay his head on the chest of the Savior, whose other books in the Scriptures surround the topic of love. He needed to be shown, or at least more of who the Lord Jesus Christ is, and he learned that lesson when He wrote, “ Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” (Rev. 22:20b)
“I don’t like it, I don’t want to see it, but now I can say in all surety, Thy will be done.”
Your heroes, if they be men of this world, will fade away and need to be replaced by another, another lesson John needed to learn, twice, when he bowed down to others in the place he witnessed the future.
I have asked the following question of many in my walk through this world, and the answers have ranged from mother to father, to Paul, Noah and David. “Who is the first person you want to meet when you get to heaven?” Rarely have I heard, “The Lord Jesus Christ, my Savior and Redeemer.”
Sports stars, great thinkers, incredibly talented musicians, the list is nearly endless of the people we look up to, even those in the Scriptures. But there should always be One, and only One, who is always placed higher than all of them. One example to follow, in His entirety, not just in those parts that make us feel better about Him, and ourselves.
And you must do this as well if there are those who are lifting you upon that pedestal.
“He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30)
“Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.” (Romans 13:7)
One hero my friends, and He encapsulates all of them and more.