Heroes

Tonight in Arlington, Texas, in venues only a few miles apart, crowds have gathered to witness their heroes.

In one of the venues, the heroes are distinguished by their physical ability.  Most of them have big muscles.  Some of them can run fast.  Many of them are large, loud, and tough.

In the other venue, the heroes are physically unimpressive.  One is overweight.  Many have physical ailments.  A couple live with constant bodily pain.

In the first venue, the heroes believe they are the best.  They are told they are the best.  They are paid like they are the best.

In the second venue, the heroes count themselves as nothing.  They say “to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”  They don’t get paid, but they usually eat.

In the first venue, 100,000 people have paid $200-$??,000 each to watch their heroes move a small ball back and forth over a 100-yard long field of grass.

In the second venue, 100 people came freely to hear of how God worked in a slum in Baghdad over the last six years.

In the first venue, some of the heroes will win a game that will soon be forgotten.

In the second venue, the heroes challenged those present to sacrifice their lives for what will never be forgotten.

In the first venue, spectators watched their heroes play their first home game in the best stadium with the largest video screen in the world.

In the second venue, the heroes and witnesses talked to an invisible person who they believe lives in a place where the best earthly stadium would be but a dilapidated shack.

Who is your hero?  How much money would you pay for a front row seat at a football game?  How much for one at a missionary gathering?  Does the world look at your life and think that you ‘re crazy?

1 Corinthians 1:18 (NIV) “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

1 Corinthians 1:27 (NIV) “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”

Matthew 16:24-27 (NIV) “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.”