Who Is Your Hero: Becoming A Living Sacrifice

Heroes come in all shapes and sizes

Ask anyone to name a hero and they will point to our first responders, those who run toward danger when everyone else is running away. Ask a child and they might name their favorite superhero character. We live in a society that honors the ordinary citizen who places themself in danger and does the extraordinary thing to save the life of a neighbor, a child, or a complete stranger. Heroes come in all shapes and sizes.

There is one hero, a perfect hero, a well known hero, one who laid His life down and gave all He had for humanity, Jesus Christ. If anyone fits the definition of hero it would be Him. He gave everything a person could give, for you and me.

What about you? Do you think of yourself as a hero. You might be surprised to find what the Bible says about it.

John 15:13

There is no greater love than this: to lay down one’s life for his friends.

Few of us have been asked to die for someone we know and love.

Definition of Hero

A hero is a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities, "a war hero."

Those who have lost their lives in an effort to save the life of someone else, fits the very definition of being a hero. They exhibited courage and noble qualities.This includes the father who drowns while saving his own children. Consider the husband who runs back into a burning home to save his wife. Maybe, the hero is a young mother who stands in front of her children to protect them from an attacker. We have all heard stories and stand in awe of what love will drive someone to do.

Again, what about you? Do you have noble qualities? My guess is that you do and you share those qualities with others whenever needed.

There is more to consider when we talk about laying down our lives for someone. It doesn't always require death, bodily sacrifice, or entering a dangerous situation.

Romans 12:1

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.  

You can give up your life in many ways, even as a living sacrifice.

How many times do you give up those things you would like to do, those things that are important to you, to focus on the needs of someone else with your time and/or goods?

We all have memories of someone who went out of their way to serve our needs in one way or another. Maybe it was a favorite teacher, coach, grandparent, parent, or neighbor. Maybe it was a stranger who stopped their car on a rainy night and helped you jump start your own. They didn’t have to do it, but they did. They gave up a part of themselves for you. In that moment they laid down their life (their own wants and needs) for you. They became a living sacrifice.

It is within those memories of others you will find your heroes.

It might be more difficult to see yourself in the same way, but I am sure those around you have some beautiful memories of times you have sacrificed for them, times when you gave up a part of yourself to make their life a little better. Maybe it is the family tradition your children count on every year. It might take you a lot of time and effort to create that memory for them and while they are children it doesn't seem to rise to the level of hero status. But in their adulthood when they consider the life you provided for them, those memories will be special. You will be a hero, they will recognize your sacrifice and your noble qualities. You will have been a living sacrifice.

When you stop to help the elderly man reach a can from an upper shelf, you are a hero. When you help the woman in a wheelchair load her groceries into the trunk of her car, you are a hero. When it is pouring down rain and a young teen wrecks her bike in front of your house. If you go out of your way to help, you are a hero. When your actions are the actions of someone of noble character, you are a hero.

Maybe you are thinking, I am no hero, I just did what needed to be done.

I am always surprised to hear the same words spoken by those ordinary citizens who acted in extraordinary ways. During media interviews they will often mention they were just in the right place at the right time and did what anyone else would have done.

When you interact with others and that interaction ends with them being better off than they were before, you are a hero. You might not have saved their life but you gave a part of yours. Jesus gave everything for us. When we offer our help, time, or goods to others, we are offering a small part of the kind of love He showed us all. We become a living sacrifice.

Cherish the Journey.

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