There was a nation wide poll taken of America's favorite superhero & guess what?
The majority agreed that our favorite superhero is Superman. But right on his heels was Spiderman. Followed closely by Batman & Captain America.
But did you know the word hero is only used one time in the Bible?
That's right, only one person in the Bible was ever called hero. When we look at Judges 6, we see an angel of the Lord find a man called Gideon, hiding from the enemy in a hole threshing enough wheat to make a biscuit. The angel calls Gideon a mighty hero, but Gideon was anything but a hero. Gideon was the weakest person of the weakest family of the weakest clan in the weakest tribe of Israel. Gideon was the exact opposite of a hero. He had filled his life with complaints, excuses & fear. No one was writing comic books or making movies about him.
So why did the angel call Gideon a hero?
I would imagine it's the same reason Jesus called Peter the solid rock that the church would be built upon long before Peter was a rock. That's right, the same Peter who denied Jesus three times, & the same Peter who cut off a man's ear. That Peter was not a rock. The Peter we see in Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John is not the same Peter we see in Acts where he is in fact, the rock the church is being built upon. Jesus called Peter a 'rock' long before Peter was stable & mature. God leads us by calling out our potential, not by calling out our failure. God tends to recurit from the pit rather than the pedestal. God has a tendency of not consulting with our past when determining our future.
You see God called Gideon a hero long before Gideon did anything heroic. God sees past what you've done to what you can become. God sees past your failures and your insecurities. Listen, your past does not determine your potential. God's presence determines your potential. And when God stands with you, nothing can stand against you.
So many of us are still walking around carrying the weight of our past. The weight of who we once were. We are carrying mountains that we were only suppose to climb. It's so easy for us to slip into the mindset of thinking that because of what we did or who we once were, that we are useless & cannot serve God's kingdom. I can remember a time not that long ago I myself thought 'God just can't use someone like me.'
Oh, what we could be if we stopped carrying the remains of who we were.
You are not damaged beyond repair.
You must learn to trust that there is a future waiting for you that is beyond what you might be able to grasp at this present moment.
Some of the worst people in the Bible made the most positve impact.
Why?
Because their story didn't end with their mistake, it finished with their comeback. You might feel like you are defeated, but your story isn't over. Your victory is coming! That non-hero Gideon I mentioned earlier? After he accepted God's call on his life, he went on to lead the Israelite army into a unlikely victory over a massive & fierce Midianite army. The comeback of Gideon's story is greater than the beginning. I have learned that it's the hard parts of our story that He uses to refine us & draw us closer to Him. So don't look on your past with shame. When we own our past & become unashamed of our story, we can then use our story to help others & when we do that, God redeems our past. Believe me when I tell you, He looks past your past to see the hero you can become.
