”Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.  Let your gentle spirit be known to all people. The Lord is near.  Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
– Philippians 4:4-7

Jesus
Who are your heroes? Here is a short sample of some of mine: Jesus, Joshua, David, and my Dad. Let me give you some short stories of why each is on my list. First on my list is Jesus. One of the stories that I regularly think about with Jesus is when He is in the garden of Gethsemane, and He is having dread about His upcoming trials.  He knows the pain of the cross, but more importantly, He knows the pain of taking on the sins of the world. He prays, “Lord if this burden can skip me, let it.”  Then He prays, “It is not what I want that is important, but it is your plan that is important” (Matthew 26:39). Even in the face of great suffering, He puts His feelings aside and focuses on God’s plan. He didn’t complain, He didn’t run away, He prayed and got on with it. He was driven by His relationship with God and the desire to do His will. He also lived what He preached: “No greater love has a man than he lay down his life for his friends,” (John 15:13).

Joshua
Next is Joshua. My favorite story with Joshua is when he goes back to scout the land. It is a treacherous country. It is full of all kinds of dangers, not the least of which is giants. However, Joshua sees none of this. Even though he knows that taking this land will be difficult, he knows what God has commanded, and he reports that they can take the land. He isn’t persuaded by the physical fear around him, only by what God has promised.

David
Of all my heroes, David is most like me. He went from being a young boy slaying a giant to the king of Israel. However, that is not the part I relate to. David was a flawed man. Even though he had a heart after God, he still made some pretty big mistakes. This is where I relate. What impresses me about David was his desire to be back in a relationship with God. When he sinned, he didn’t defend the sin. He admitted it and begged God not to remove His spirit from him (Psalm 51:11). Once it was pointed out, he accepted his shame without hiding it.

My Dad
My dad is an example to me of what it means to take up your cross and follow Christ. In my short 45 years as a preacher’s kid, I have seen him face all kinds of adversity. I have been with him when members of his own church turned their backs on him and attempted to ruin his reputation. I have seen him make decisions in his life that were not popular with the people around him. I have seen him more recently struggle with unrelenting medical problems. However, I have never seen him turn his back on his responsibility. He continues to pray for people who accused him. He continues supporting his family even when they disagreed. He never accused God of an excessive burden for his medical conditions. At times he is broken down by the burdens, but he always says that God will provide and that everything has a purpose. He bares these burdens with little complaining.

All Heroes
So what do all of my heroes have in common? They all have struggles and pain: Jesus at the cross, Joshua fighting the giants, David with accepting his failures, and my dad with not complaining, but rejoicing, in adversity. If you desire to be a hero in God’s kingdom, you must take up your cross and follow Him (Matthew 16:24). This means that you have to bear burdens and move through them with Christ’s guidance. These struggles are what refines us into who God wants us to be. Whether these struggles have been created through our sin or struggles that God has given us, God is asking us to turn towards Him and away from ourselves. When we are able to rejoice and show who God is in our struggles, we become someone else’s hero – physical examples of God’s love and perfect plan.

We all have struggles.  What we do with them is what matters.  Hope you have a meaningful week full of struggles and His peace and joy.

– Jeremiah

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