When you read the Bible, and you see the characters written of there, do you think of them as humans or heroes? It is true that most heroes are indeed human (other than Balaam’s donkey or maybe Jonah’s whale, unfortunately neither of which are named). But the distinction I want to make is not that of species but rather perspective.
Regular ole humans come with character flaws, warts, and actions that we can totally relate to. Hero’s on the other hand stand tall, the wind in their face, with heroic music playing in the background. They take dramatic action, which always works out with legendary results. The problem is that making hero’s out of Bible characters completely misses the point.
You see the Bible is not a book about heroic men and women. It is not the hall of fame where no one has a bad day. In fact, uncomfortably so, the characters of the Bible are incredibly …. ordinary. They are ordinary people with ordinary flaws, that just so happened to be in the place where GOD used them. As it turns out, while David was certainly brave, what is more believable; a shepherd boy killed a hardened battle giant with some rocks or that God used a shepherd boy and some rocks to make a point about faith? Is it more believable if we skip over the parts where Elijah battled unsuccessfully with his doubts and fears running away after an amazing victory? Do we obscure Samson’s disappointingly horrible judgment and only emphasize his strength and battle prowess and great hair? Overly romantic notions about Bible characters makes the Bible about them instead of the reality of the situation: the Bible is about God.
It also separates us from them. Instead of learning that God can and does use humans, even deeply flawed humans, to advance His agenda of redemption. We come away discouraged thinking that we could never be like so and so in the Bible. The opposite is true. We can be like so and so because God is still God! And He is still in the business of making His appeal through us.
This week we start a new sermon series on Moses and as we look to his life we will discover some good news about God and who He is pleased to use!
See you at church!
Pastor Chris
