Heroes
by pastor Katie Preston
Each of these devotional blogs entries is meant to be read on your own or if you have family or friends you live with, to be read together aloud. A suggestion is to do this after you have dinner around the table together. At the conclusion, please spend time in personal reflection or in sharing with one another your answers to the questions at the end. Be sure to conclude with prayer.
Read Psalm 121
“I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber.” Psalm 121:1-3
I’ve been thinking about heroes a lot lately. It’s strange that as a kid I often looked around me and was able to see heroes everywhere. Sadly, as I grew older, I had a hard time seeing any heroes, other than my dad of course. Now when I hear the word hero I think immediately of my dad. He was a Firefighter and an EMT when I was growing up, and that only added to the already present badge of dad my hero (of course he is a hero).
Yesterday, on the phone someone called me a hero. My first instinct is to deny this badge of honor. My first thought is that I’m doing what nurses do. Everyday. Then I began thinking about heroes more. Everyone has a hero. Everyone looks up to someone. Often our heroes are real people, no superpowers. Just people concerned about others.
Growing up I always wanted to be like my dad. I even thought about being a firefighter, but more than anything I wanted to help take care of others. My dad risked his life to save others without hesitation. I realized recently that my dad showed christlike love in his every day job.
Jesus gave His life. He literally died to save us and make a way for us to be whole with the Father. But the story doesn’t end with a fallen Hero. God raised Jesus from the dead! He has risen, returned to God the Father in heaven, and has sent the Holy Spirit as our Helper. We have a Hero who showed us what love really looks like.
Let’s follow in the footsteps of the greatest hero in the world. Let’s try to be more like Him. You may be thinking, “I won’t ever be good enough.” Nope. But we have the Holy Spirit to guide us and strengthen us. We are never alone, unless we choose to stand alone.
My prayer for you is that you will look up for the help and strength you need. That you will want to be more like your hero. If Jesus isn’t your Hero, I hope He will be one day.
Each day I care for others I rely on strength from the Holy Spirit. No matter what type of job you have or don’t have the Lord can be your strength too!
