This week, maybe even today, your moment will come—a window of opportunity daring you to leap through it and become a hero.
By “hero” I don’t mean a joyful throng will hoist you onto their shoulders and march you down to the local news station for a live interview and print ten dollar T-shirts with your photoshopped face on them. I mean you will have a chance to do something that is by nature heroic. I mean getting praised for it is not the point.
The dictionary says that heroic means “behavior or talk that is bold or dramatic, esp. excessively or unexpectedly so.” The thesaurus collects words like brave, courageous, valiant, valorous, lion-hearted, audacious, intrepid, bold, fearless, daring, audacious, dauntless, plucky, gallant, chivalrous, and noble. I’d like to add a few of my own: sacrificial, selfless, generous, gracious, and costly.
Excessively or unexpectedly so.
Not just your run of the mills sacrifice, but a second mile sacrifice, an “only Jesus could inspire that” kind of action.
Somewhere in your sphere of influence, a need will present itself. A person will need something. A problem will need your intervention. And all of heaven’s resources are waiting in the wings, ready to flow through you the moment you accept the assignment.
It will hurt. It will cost you something. It will mean letting go of something, displacing something you hold dear, risking something important to you. If it didn’t, it wouldn’t be heroic. Excessive. Unexpected.
I think one of the reasons the world looks at the church and can’t find Jesus in it is that we behave in such religious, expected, measured ways. We are not, by and large, an excessive people—flambouyant with grace and giving, daring in sacrifice.
To be salt, to be light, is to be heroic, to live a heroic life.
This week, maybe even today, your moment will come—a window of opportunity daring you to leap through it and become a hero.
Religious. Expected. Measured. I couldn’t quite put my finger on why I was never satisfied at any church, but in three words you’ve precisely described why.
For me, it took finding a church filled with a league of heroes (like the Justice League!) to motivate me toward heroism. It’s a joyous life, risking all the time. Thanks for writing this and hopefully compelling others to pick up their capes and fly! 🙂
Sounds like an awesome church. After writing this piece, I commented to Shauna (my wife) that the post reminded me of David and his “mighty men.” His Justice League. Nice.