Articles
Heroes
Following God’s Hall Of Fame of the Faithful in Hebrews chapter 11, the Hebrew writer says, “We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.” We are looking at a time for these Hebrews in which they are on the brink of disaster. They are about to quit and go back to Judaism. This book is written to stir them. As the contestants walk into the arena the stands are full, but not full of curious idle people. They are full of those who ran the race. You have an arena full of people who ran and excelled. This is a stadium filled with those who have done what we are struggling to do. How would an athlete perform in the presence of those who have done exceptionally well what he is trying to do? How much would it affect his drive to perform?
We have called Hebrews, “The Hall Of Fame of the Faithful.” We are to listen to the testimony of the heroes. They are intended to have an impact on us. We need heroes. In America, our great disaster is we have turned cannibal and eaten our heroes. We drag them out of the grave and expose their faults in order to justify our own. They never were perfect people, but when we are through with them they are despised. No heroes left. When we killed our heroes we lost our patriotism. We lost in great measure a fervent spirit that made America something special. Remember the heroes.
Consider, we do not walk alone. One of the most helpful considerations we have is the voice from the stands. The heroes are there. The witnesses are those who have run, suffered and won. This is not a time for the contestant who walks in to whine or apologize. We can’t whine in presence of heroes. We can’t make excuse in their presence. There is a demand, a call to something higher.
Listen to our heroes:
We want to say, “I am depressed.” The voice of Jeremiah comes through and says, “I know what it is to be depressed, but you can make it. I did.”
We want to say, “I sometimes feel so alone in this struggle.” The voice of Elijah says, “I know. I felt the same way. You can do greater things than ever imagined. I did.”
We want to say they will not listen to me. The voice says, “I know.” The voice of Moses says, “I know, I thought they would not listen to me. You can make it.”
We want to say, “I hurt. This is painful.” The nods come from all the martyrs. A voice from those who were sawn asunder floats down to say, “I know it hurts. You can make it. We did.”
We want to say, “It is so hard. It cost so much.” Hear the voices from those who lived their lives in dens and caves in the earth say, “I know, we all know, but you can make it. We did.”
Do you have the courage to whine in the presence of all those heroes? We stand in their presence. We stand before not only a handful but all of them. There are martyrs of that century and afterward whose blood still stains their robes. We want to whine because we mashed our finger? In their presence we will be so ashamed we cannot whine.
Among my heroes none excels my Dad. His is my greatest earthly example. He possesses an unyielding steadfastness. His character is one of uncompromising loyalty. He has an unswerving and unalterable love for God when it would be easier to be otherwise. He is strong. He tells me, Son, “I am doing it still at nearly 90 years old. You can do it too.”
Remember the heroes. They can make the difference.
