Fighting the Wrong Battles, Adopting the Wrong Heros

On returning from vacation in Canada, I am catching up on my bloglines and technorati searches. Once again, I'm amazed, bemused, and discouraged by evangelicals' incredible ability to expend all their resources fighting the wrong battles and defending the wrong heros. Do you have a hero of the faith? Maybe Spurgeon or Luther is your man. Or I could name a list of modern day living guys.

If I were a hero worshipping kind of girl, I'd be loving Tim Keller and CJ Mahaney right now. But it's primarily their teaching that reminds me of the terrible ungospel-like aspects of modern day religious hero worship. CJ Mahaney is all about humility and Tim Keller preaches grace like nobody else I've heard (except the pastors at Grace Seattle). And what you get from both of them is ... well ... humility and grace. Humility says that I have to let go of my rights, and I am a servant of Christ and for Christ to others. Grace says that I am the cheif of sinners and the only response that reflects well on God's forgiveness of me is my forgiveness and forbearance with others. There is no room for hero worship in that.

Our former pastor in SC told a story about meeting a wealthy man in seminary who had given a large portion of land to a mission organization for an airstrip. Our pastor told the man that he was honored to meet a hero of the faith, to which this older man replied, "Son, there is only One Hero of our faith." I tear up to think of that. He was humble, wise, and RIGHT.

God, may Jesus alone be our Hero and the One to which we conform. May His humility be our guide and His grace our defining core value.

John 13:35 "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

I Cor. 13:4-5 Love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or
rude. It does not insist on its own way;

I'll write more another day on our tendency to focus on the wrong battles. It's such a pet peeve of mine, that I have to first work on my own attitude before I can post anything publicly.