On friday night I’ll be traveling up to Binghamton, NY to speak at the Inter-Varsity gathering that meets on the campus. One of our college students who is involved with the group has invited me to come and share, and I’m excited to be a part of what the Lord is doing at the SUNY School.
The theme that the group is running with this semester is “Super Heroes”, and the aspect they want me to focus on is the fact that a true hero is driven by humility.
Of course that reminds me of the model we have in what Christ did for us so I’m going to open up the time by looking at the incredible selfless attitude that Jesus had in Philippians 2 and then ask the question “so what does this mean to us?”
The rest of the time we’re going to look at one of my favorite stories in the Bible found Luke 5. It’s a great picture of what kinds of things we’re capable when we have a selfless attitude.
The angle I’ll go with in the text was the fact that the friends of the paralyzed guy were so moved by the love of their friend (I think humility and a selfless attitude can be interpreted here) that they did whatever it took to get him to Jesus (whose reputation of miracles, power, love, humility and selflessness had preceded him at this point)…so they were driven by the desire for physical healing of their friend but Jesus saw the deeper need first (He forgave his sins) then healed him physically.
Some of the things that I plan to bring out is that a hero…
- Is moved to take action when he/she is selfless
- Will do whatever it takes (go through any barrier) to meet others needs (physical and spiritual)
- Will begin to develop a reputation of selflessness and those acts begin to spread, become contagious to others and warrant questions which give them the right to be heard
- Has an incredible model to follow in Jesus Christ
So, I’d appreciate your prayers everyone, and would love to hear your thoughts about this topic…
How has Jesus shown Himself powerful in your life? How does the fact that Jesus showed incredible humility even though He had the ability to exercise extreme power over his enemies apply to you?
I don’t know about you but I’m so thankful for things like…Grace, Mercy, Forgiveness and the Everlasting nature of my Creator!
Great thoughts from His word there. The key I guess is that servant attitude towards others. You never have to ask for my prayers….they are always with you, no matter
where you go, live or preach! Love you lots! Joann and Brian
You know, I love the movie The Incredibles. The thing I love the most about the supers is that even when they are supposed to be in hiding, they can’t resist listening to the police scanner waiting for someone who needs help. What would our life look like if we were constantly watching and waiting for people who need our help? I especially like Edna Mode and her commentary on ‘super heroes’ as compared to ‘super models’ . . . not that real life models will fit her perception, but simply that superficiality and selfishness are antithetical to ‘super hero work.’
Aaron…what a great connection to the Incredibles! I love that movie as well it has so many levels of application to our lives when we think of it in conjunction to our mission on this earth. Thanks for sharing…I’m going to break out the DVD and watch it all over again…Thanks!