This is a wonderful post by Deaconess Ersula Jerkins that she said I could share on my blog...
Since as far back as history can take us, mankind has lauded the hero. Ancient tales survive of Sir Gawain and Ulysses, and when heroes became common enough we created super heroes like Superman and Spiderman. Face it; we are a species obsessed with heroism. In a world so full of evil it’s not hard to imagine why we’ve romanticized about some dark, handsome, muscular character(don’t hate on my hero description) coming and making our lives better and safer by fighting all the evil lurking in our nightly news reports. And because we’ve so openly salivated for such people there’s a lime light ready for those who are deemed as heroes by society’s standards.
Now don’t get me wrong, people who have risked their lives to help others or given of themselves to help others should be thanked kindly. God is pleased by the acts of selflessness and charity committed by His believers. However, I’m afraid that many of us have come to associate heroics with salvation in a way that God the Father never intended. More precisely, the idea that we will conquer all the obstacles in our way to success…success being perfect health, business elevation and money…lots of money.
Often times when Christians find themselves in a situation where they aren’t advancing or at least maintaining their health, career or finances, they are searching for something encouraging and sadly, because the Scriptures don’t promise riches or an easy life, some of our brothers and sister fall prey to wolves preaching the false gospel of prosperity and perfect health. They began to internalize messages that aren’t of God and when they don’t see the fruit they expect, they become angry with God; or on the flip side, when they become successful they use it as proof of their false doctrine and claim that it’s “the favor of God.” In other words, those who aren’t excelling in life must not have the same amount of God’s favor that they have. This, brothers and sisters, is a symptom of looking at self as the hero.
Now some will say, “Well I gave glory to God for my success”. Well, let me just say, Christ didn’t suffer and die so that we can give God the glory for our bigger house, newer car, and lavish vacations. We have no problem shouting glory to God for those things but have little time or encouragement for those who don’t live the same lifestyle or at least aren’t even trying to upgrade to the same lifestyle. Christ didn’t die for you to be debt-free…at least not financially. Many Christians will die…HAVE died sick and/or in debt. Does that mean we won’t see them in heaven because they didn’t really have faith? If you think so, then you might want to question which person you think is going to hell because you obviously don’t believe in the same Jesus that’s in the Bible.
Again, don’t get me wrong, God is capable doing ALL things, but that doesn’t mean that once you accept Jesus, the Father becomes a genie bound by the code of some magic lamp. It doesn’t mean that He will do all the same things for EVERY believer down here on earth. If that were the case then every believer would be rich and in perfect health in every country in the world; yet any person with one good eye can see that there are Christians suffering world-wide. Funny how we aren’t the hero when it comes to that issue though. Oh, we’ll take a few notebooks and pencils to the supply drive at church and drop off some out-of-style clothing to the shelter; but sacrifice the summer vacation fund to help a family who has nowhere to go…not happening. We work too hard!
Brothers and sisters, we’ve become obsessed with ourselves as the hero. However, we aren’t anywhere close. We aren’t doing better at our job or making more with our businesses because we have more of God’s favor than our fellow Christians who are suffering all around us. In Eph. 6:9 it is made clear that despite our earthly situation and social status, God has no favorites among His chosen.
We have done nothing…can do nothing to earn God’s favor. That is the work of Christ through grace. Every believer gains God’s favor when they come to trust Jesus as Lord. We are saved from sin; that’s what it means to have favor: God has chosen us from out of the lost, but not one over each other in the kingdom. He isn’t like mankind, choosing the favorite son or daughter and if He were to choose, I feel deep in my spirit that it wouldn’t be us folks from the most self-absorbed generation ever. It would no-doubt be Jesus and then maybe a few Apostles and prophets who REALLY died and suffered for the advancement of the Gospel and boasted in what God had done in their lives spiritually, not what they had acquired materially.
Social media has turned us into a bunch of boastful, bragging brats. I can’t recall one scripture where one of the Apostles thanked God for blessing them with even bigger houses, later-modeled chariots and expensive trips to an exotic island. Not that we shouldn’t be grateful for what God allows us to have or that we can’t share some of our enjoyment with others, but material things aren’t the everlasting blessings that everyone can or will share in. We should speak more of the eternal blessings that ALL will experience when they come to Christ: like peace of mind, unfounded joy, patience and self-control to name a few fruits of the Spirit.
When people start looking at those signs as proof that they are right with God through their faith in Christ, they will be righteously encouraged in their walk instead of looking for wealth and health and being discouraged in their faith if they don’t receive it, or deceived in their spirit if they do. When we continually boast of our material gain, the spot light is taken off of Christ and the fact that His grace is sufficient even if we don’t EVER get all the things we desire down here. This furthers our hero complex.
Those of us with the hero complex began to look at scripture and see ourselves. We look at David and think we’re the champion. We look at Gideon and think we’re the warrior. We look at Samson and think we’re mighty. We think that because we know God, we are supposed to overcome every bad thing in our lives. We think that, “all things working together for good,” means getting the things we think are good for us. But our “good” isn’t God’s “good”. In Is. 55:8 God tells us that His ways are NOT our ways and His thoughts are NOT our thoughts. Sometimes the good God wants to do in your life may seem bad to you. He has called many to suffer for His glory as was the case with Paul (2 Cor. 12:7-9), and some of them won’t stop suffering until they die. No one enjoys suffering and it will be bad, but the end result will NOT be in vain because God has said so and Jesus, the Word, reassures us (Phillip. 2:16-18). HE is the hero…Jesus Christ, not us!
Every time we read of victory in the Bible, it isn’t about us…it’s about Christ! All the mighty works God did through Moses and through the many judges and kings, it all points to Jesus Christ and what He would eventually come to do for mankind. We aren’t Gideon; we are the people in bondage to the Midianites. We aren’t David slaying Goliath; we are Israel cowering at the mere sight of Goliath and in need of a savior. We aren’t strong like Samson; we are weak and powerless against our enemy, Satan; it’s Jesus who’s conquered sin and all power is in Him. Sorry to burst your bubble folks…we are not the hero.
To view ourselves as the hero means that we start thinking that we have power like Jesus. The problem with that is that Jesus is God! WE ARE NOT THE FATHER! We do NOT have God’s power. We DO have the ability to overcome sin, but that strength comes from God-given faith in Jesus’ perfection. We do NOT have the power to speak whatever we want into existence or declare some higher level of favor over our lives. Jesus wanted to live and not be crucified, but He didn’t speak His escape from the cross into existence. He trusted God that whatever happened was for God’s glory. Since that is what we are created for, God’s glory, that should be the most important thing to us. When we are suffering we need to stop trying to be the hero and trust in Jesus who is our eternal hero; then we won’t be so discouraged when things aren’t the way we want them to be in the world. We can look forward to a time when everything will be perfect in the end…and if that’s not enough…a perfect ending is far from what we deserve. We deserve to suffer in this life and the next. When you fully grasp that concept, joy will fill the emptiness that temporary unhappiness can create.
Focus on the glory that God wants Christ to get through your life. As believers we are not the hero, we are not the champion, we will not win every race and we will not overcome every trial. We will not receive everything we desire just because we have grace. But when we began to see grace as being sufficient, we will experience the fruits of the Spirit despite our circumstances or social status. We will be able to help more people when we stop judging in thinking about favor as a level system. We will be able to love each other like we are supposed to when we see God’s favor properly, as the unifying factor within the kingdom of heaven. We will begin to see the Scriptures clearly when we take ourselves out of the role of the hero and place Jesus there.
Prosperity heretics won’t be able to prey on your discouragement when you already know and understand that having the victory doesn’t mean never suffering here on earth. Your shame in not measuring up to the world’s standards will turn into praise when you stop placing the burden of being the hero on your shoulders. Jesus has already done the hard part. All we have to do is trust Him that no matter what we may face in this life, our purpose to glorify God doesn’t end, heaven is waiting on the other side and no one can take those truths away from us.
I hope this blesses any and all who find it among the many notes up here!
The Problem with Seeing Yourself as the Hero.
Since as far back as history can take us, mankind has lauded the hero. Ancient tales survive of Sir Gawain and Ulysses, and when heroes became common enough we created super heroes like Superman and Spiderman. Face it; we are a species obsessed with heroism. In a world so full of evil it’s not hard to imagine why we’ve romanticized about some dark, handsome, muscular character(don’t hate on my hero description) coming and making our lives better and safer by fighting all the evil lurking in our nightly news reports. And because we’ve so openly salivated for such people there’s a lime light ready for those who are deemed as heroes by society’s standards.
Now don’t get me wrong, people who have risked their lives to help others or given of themselves to help others should be thanked kindly. God is pleased by the acts of selflessness and charity committed by His believers. However, I’m afraid that many of us have come to associate heroics with salvation in a way that God the Father never intended. More precisely, the idea that we will conquer all the obstacles in our way to success…success being perfect health, business elevation and money…lots of money.
Often times when Christians find themselves in a situation where they aren’t advancing or at least maintaining their health, career or finances, they are searching for something encouraging and sadly, because the Scriptures don’t promise riches or an easy life, some of our brothers and sister fall prey to wolves preaching the false gospel of prosperity and perfect health. They began to internalize messages that aren’t of God and when they don’t see the fruit they expect, they become angry with God; or on the flip side, when they become successful they use it as proof of their false doctrine and claim that it’s “the favor of God.” In other words, those who aren’t excelling in life must not have the same amount of God’s favor that they have. This, brothers and sisters, is a symptom of looking at self as the hero.
Now some will say, “Well I gave glory to God for my success”. Well, let me just say, Christ didn’t suffer and die so that we can give God the glory for our bigger house, newer car, and lavish vacations. We have no problem shouting glory to God for those things but have little time or encouragement for those who don’t live the same lifestyle or at least aren’t even trying to upgrade to the same lifestyle. Christ didn’t die for you to be debt-free…at least not financially. Many Christians will die…HAVE died sick and/or in debt. Does that mean we won’t see them in heaven because they didn’t really have faith? If you think so, then you might want to question which person you think is going to hell because you obviously don’t believe in the same Jesus that’s in the Bible.
Again, don’t get me wrong, God is capable doing ALL things, but that doesn’t mean that once you accept Jesus, the Father becomes a genie bound by the code of some magic lamp. It doesn’t mean that He will do all the same things for EVERY believer down here on earth. If that were the case then every believer would be rich and in perfect health in every country in the world; yet any person with one good eye can see that there are Christians suffering world-wide. Funny how we aren’t the hero when it comes to that issue though. Oh, we’ll take a few notebooks and pencils to the supply drive at church and drop off some out-of-style clothing to the shelter; but sacrifice the summer vacation fund to help a family who has nowhere to go…not happening. We work too hard!
Brothers and sisters, we’ve become obsessed with ourselves as the hero. However, we aren’t anywhere close. We aren’t doing better at our job or making more with our businesses because we have more of God’s favor than our fellow Christians who are suffering all around us. In Eph. 6:9 it is made clear that despite our earthly situation and social status, God has no favorites among His chosen.
We have done nothing…can do nothing to earn God’s favor. That is the work of Christ through grace. Every believer gains God’s favor when they come to trust Jesus as Lord. We are saved from sin; that’s what it means to have favor: God has chosen us from out of the lost, but not one over each other in the kingdom. He isn’t like mankind, choosing the favorite son or daughter and if He were to choose, I feel deep in my spirit that it wouldn’t be us folks from the most self-absorbed generation ever. It would no-doubt be Jesus and then maybe a few Apostles and prophets who REALLY died and suffered for the advancement of the Gospel and boasted in what God had done in their lives spiritually, not what they had acquired materially.
Social media has turned us into a bunch of boastful, bragging brats. I can’t recall one scripture where one of the Apostles thanked God for blessing them with even bigger houses, later-modeled chariots and expensive trips to an exotic island. Not that we shouldn’t be grateful for what God allows us to have or that we can’t share some of our enjoyment with others, but material things aren’t the everlasting blessings that everyone can or will share in. We should speak more of the eternal blessings that ALL will experience when they come to Christ: like peace of mind, unfounded joy, patience and self-control to name a few fruits of the Spirit.
When people start looking at those signs as proof that they are right with God through their faith in Christ, they will be righteously encouraged in their walk instead of looking for wealth and health and being discouraged in their faith if they don’t receive it, or deceived in their spirit if they do. When we continually boast of our material gain, the spot light is taken off of Christ and the fact that His grace is sufficient even if we don’t EVER get all the things we desire down here. This furthers our hero complex.
Those of us with the hero complex began to look at scripture and see ourselves. We look at David and think we’re the champion. We look at Gideon and think we’re the warrior. We look at Samson and think we’re mighty. We think that because we know God, we are supposed to overcome every bad thing in our lives. We think that, “all things working together for good,” means getting the things we think are good for us. But our “good” isn’t God’s “good”. In Is. 55:8 God tells us that His ways are NOT our ways and His thoughts are NOT our thoughts. Sometimes the good God wants to do in your life may seem bad to you. He has called many to suffer for His glory as was the case with Paul (2 Cor. 12:7-9), and some of them won’t stop suffering until they die. No one enjoys suffering and it will be bad, but the end result will NOT be in vain because God has said so and Jesus, the Word, reassures us (Phillip. 2:16-18). HE is the hero…Jesus Christ, not us!
Every time we read of victory in the Bible, it isn’t about us…it’s about Christ! All the mighty works God did through Moses and through the many judges and kings, it all points to Jesus Christ and what He would eventually come to do for mankind. We aren’t Gideon; we are the people in bondage to the Midianites. We aren’t David slaying Goliath; we are Israel cowering at the mere sight of Goliath and in need of a savior. We aren’t strong like Samson; we are weak and powerless against our enemy, Satan; it’s Jesus who’s conquered sin and all power is in Him. Sorry to burst your bubble folks…we are not the hero.
To view ourselves as the hero means that we start thinking that we have power like Jesus. The problem with that is that Jesus is God! WE ARE NOT THE FATHER! We do NOT have God’s power. We DO have the ability to overcome sin, but that strength comes from God-given faith in Jesus’ perfection. We do NOT have the power to speak whatever we want into existence or declare some higher level of favor over our lives. Jesus wanted to live and not be crucified, but He didn’t speak His escape from the cross into existence. He trusted God that whatever happened was for God’s glory. Since that is what we are created for, God’s glory, that should be the most important thing to us. When we are suffering we need to stop trying to be the hero and trust in Jesus who is our eternal hero; then we won’t be so discouraged when things aren’t the way we want them to be in the world. We can look forward to a time when everything will be perfect in the end…and if that’s not enough…a perfect ending is far from what we deserve. We deserve to suffer in this life and the next. When you fully grasp that concept, joy will fill the emptiness that temporary unhappiness can create.
Focus on the glory that God wants Christ to get through your life. As believers we are not the hero, we are not the champion, we will not win every race and we will not overcome every trial. We will not receive everything we desire just because we have grace. But when we began to see grace as being sufficient, we will experience the fruits of the Spirit despite our circumstances or social status. We will be able to help more people when we stop judging in thinking about favor as a level system. We will be able to love each other like we are supposed to when we see God’s favor properly, as the unifying factor within the kingdom of heaven. We will begin to see the Scriptures clearly when we take ourselves out of the role of the hero and place Jesus there.
Prosperity heretics won’t be able to prey on your discouragement when you already know and understand that having the victory doesn’t mean never suffering here on earth. Your shame in not measuring up to the world’s standards will turn into praise when you stop placing the burden of being the hero on your shoulders. Jesus has already done the hard part. All we have to do is trust Him that no matter what we may face in this life, our purpose to glorify God doesn’t end, heaven is waiting on the other side and no one can take those truths away from us.
I hope this blesses any and all who find it among the many notes up here!
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