You and Me Heroes?

(Photo courtesy of stocksnap.io – Krzysztof Puszczynski)

 

The Message Bible – Matthew 5:13a “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. 14a – You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. – NIV v16 – In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

I have been praying and asking God to help me surrender more of my life to Him each day so I can demonstrate the God-flavors and the God-colors this world needs. I have come to realize that the biggest obstacle in this process is myself.  

It is very easy for me to look at the life of someone like Bethany Hamilton and see her as someone who makes a difference (adds God-flavor and God-Color the world). She is a champion surfer who lost her arm in a shark attack. Her story was made into a movie called “Soul Surfer.” Near the end of the movie, she is asked this question – “Would you change anything?” – Her answer reflects the strength of her faith in Jesus, the strength of a strong family, the courage to learn how to surf again, and the acceptance to be an example for those who looked up to her — “No, because I have been able to embrace more people with one arm than I ever could have with two”

If we look really close at Bethany’s life we will see that she faced many challenges and had to make many choices. Did the choice to give up present itself – of course it did. But she kept choosing to move forward in her life. It was those choices that have led to her being a hero and/or shining light in the lives of others.

I don’t know the circumstances that any of you are going through, but I do know that we all have choices to make.

I also have had to make choices – In 2007 Jesus was done with self-pity in my life. I’m not sure why He picked that particular day He did but He did. I was no longer allowed to feel sorry for myself. This was the conclusion of many years of being a prisoner of self-pity, of playing with it because it felt good sort of, and or praying for it to be gone. Has self-pity ever tried to come back into my life – yes. But I was armed with the strength of Jesus to say no. Although, this has been one of the big changes made in my life, I realize that I cannot stop and stay there (living in a past victory is just as damaging as living in a past failure) – I know that I am not a perfect reflection of Christ yet and must continue to trust Him for the help to make necessary changes.

living in a past victory is just as damaging as living in a past failure Click To Tweet

However, I cannot let that stop me from being a God-flavor or God-color at this moment in time.

As I mentioned above, I am in prayer with God right now to have the next big challenge removed and that is self-deception (the lies that we accept as truth and live by them). This one really needs God’s handiwork and prayer. The two areas of concern are “The belief that I am fine as I am” and “The belief that I can’t make the choices necessary to be a faith full demonstration of God.”

My prayer for each one of us, is that we will continue to seek God with all our hearts and be open to the work of the Holy Spirit – so we can reflect Jesus at all stages of our lives into whomever God chooses to reach through our life.

Father God please bless each of us with the ability to continually seek you, and continually trust you to be the primary influence of change in our lives so we can more perfectly reflect Jesus. I also ask that you help us to live out the Serenity prayer with your help by allowing us to accept the things that we cannot change, have the courage to change the things we can and exercise the wisdom to know the difference. Thank You, God for your love and patience – In Jesus name, amen.

As heroes, let’s make the choice today to shine God-color into the lives of ourselves and others.