I give credit to my Brother, Sebastian, for inspiring this thought and suggesting it was worthy of writing about.

The Bible lifts up no one as a hero. Just consider King David about whom we have record of horrendous sin. Or Moses, whose temper took him to murder and ban from the Promised Land. Miriam helped save her brother and served as an important leader of the Exodus from Egypt, but her revolt against Moses found her on the receiving end of God’s correction. Even Mary, Mother of Jesus, is pictured as bossy and wanting to bring Jesus home when He got even too radical for her.

DAVIDInstead, David’s honour comes from living as “a man after [God’s] own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14 God’s Word). Moses’ epitaph from God reads Moses “was more humble than anyone else on earth” (Numbers 12:3 God’s Word). Miriam’s title of prophetess (Exodus 15:20) showed she served God directly and spoke and sang God’s words in truth. And Gabriel greeted Mary with, “You are favoured by the Lord” to which she replied, “I am the Lord’s servant” (Luke 1:28, 38 God’s Word).

Contrast this with entertainers, sports figures and politicians who seek huge salaries for what they do, revel in the spotlight and manipulate the media to be in the public eye. Entertainers root for causes, using their name, not their discipline. The same can be said for church leaders (on a smaller scale) who climb the ladder of power, influence or prestige so they can wear goofy gowns, have people kiss their ring and have people interview them to become nominated for most important person of the year.

armor-of-god-illo-sm1“The rulers of nations lord it over them, and those with authority [want to be called] benefactors, but not so with you. The better among you must become like the least honoured and leaders must become like servants” (Luke 22:25-26 my translation).

Interesting that Jesus lifted up the widow who had pennies to give as an example (not hero!) above all the rich and famous (heroes!). Stop worshiping these Bible “heroes” and start following their example! They are only doing what God asked them to do, so do the same for what God asks you. We’d rather have idols than the real thing, it seems. Then we can be spectators instead of getting crunched on the front lines.

Can I be so crude as to say people would rather wear the bum-pads of the devil than the armour of God?