HERO or HEEL
DAY 142: It's no surprise that any one of us can be a hero to someone, and at other times we can also be a heel. What is surprising is that you could be both at the same time; it just depends on who you ask. It is possible to be praised or pummeled for the same action.
The Apostle Paul knew all to well that kind of popularity whiplash. Here he is, yet again, experiencing both admiration and excoriation.
In Act 21, Paul's journey's to spread the gospel of Christ took him back to Jerusalem. He was excited to share with the apostles and elders all that was happening as the message of Jesus was spreading.
19 Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. 20 When they heard this, they praised God.
Great things were coming to pass through Paul's faithfulness to God's calling on his life. Jews and Gentiles alike were receiving Christ and being baptized. New churches were growing up. His work was being multiplied through discipleship. He faced great obstacles and difficulties but he persevered and the Gospel was being proclaimed. His was heroic work for Christ. There was much to praise God for in His report..... BUT.... there were still complaints coming his way.
20 (the leaders) said to Paul: “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. 21 They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs. 22 What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come...
To ally the critics, the elders instructed Paul to join a group of men who were going through a seven day purification ceremony at the Temple as a show of his respect for the Jewish traditions. Paul agreed and for the next few days all was well.
27 When the seven days (of the purification ceremony) were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, 28 shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help us! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law and this place. . . 30 The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. 31 While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar.
It took a command of Roman soldiers to free Paul from the beating he was receiving from his fellow Jews because of his work of the Gospel. The same work that had inspired praise only days before, turned this group into a murderous mob. In short order Paul had gone from hero to heel even though he had done nothing differently.
So what is the moral, I had to ask myself. Pick your friends carefully? Do your work in secret? Well, if the goal is always to be the hero, always to receive praise, that might be appropriate (though I doubt it would actually work out that way.) Could the key be not to do anything controversial? Just tell people what they want to hear, and be careful where you get involved if we don't want to be the heel; is that it?
I don't think so. Paul chose the harder path - he made it his goal to please God, not man, and let the chips fall where they may. In one of his many letters to encourage the church, Paul explained the motive for all he did: Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ. Ephesians 1:10
Paul was not concerned about his audiences - good or bad. He was concerned about his Master. As a servant of Christ, seeking the approval of the One he served made the reaction of others irrelevant. They could think him a hero or a heel - people are fickle anyway. I see that in my own family.
As a parent, I can attest that choosing to please God more than I want to please my kids often has them seeing me as a heel. They would prefer I say Yes at times I say No. If making them happy is my only goal, Yes would always be the right answer because it makes me a hero. But I am parenting to please the One who entrusted those kids to me, so He is the One I must please, even if that makes me a heel sometimes in my own house. I care how they feel and I care what they think, but my goal cannot be to please them first.
1Thessalonians 2:4 On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts.
Then our goal, too, is to let God test our hearts; in that testing it will be revealed whom we desire to please. If our desire is to please our Master, what others think of us will always be less important than what our God thinks of us. If I am going to be a hero in someone's eyes, then let it be My Lord's for always putting Him first.
Day 142 of 365
2 Kings 20
2 Kings 21
2 Kings 22:1-2
Acts 21:18-36
Psalm 150:1-6
Proverbs 18:9-10
The Apostle Paul knew all to well that kind of popularity whiplash. Here he is, yet again, experiencing both admiration and excoriation.
19 Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. 20 When they heard this, they praised God.
Great things were coming to pass through Paul's faithfulness to God's calling on his life. Jews and Gentiles alike were receiving Christ and being baptized. New churches were growing up. His work was being multiplied through discipleship. He faced great obstacles and difficulties but he persevered and the Gospel was being proclaimed. His was heroic work for Christ. There was much to praise God for in His report..... BUT.... there were still complaints coming his way.
20 (the leaders) said to Paul: “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. 21 They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs. 22 What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come...
To ally the critics, the elders instructed Paul to join a group of men who were going through a seven day purification ceremony at the Temple as a show of his respect for the Jewish traditions. Paul agreed and for the next few days all was well.
27 When the seven days (of the purification ceremony) were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, 28 shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help us! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law and this place. . . 30 The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. 31 While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar.
It took a command of Roman soldiers to free Paul from the beating he was receiving from his fellow Jews because of his work of the Gospel. The same work that had inspired praise only days before, turned this group into a murderous mob. In short order Paul had gone from hero to heel even though he had done nothing differently.
So what is the moral, I had to ask myself. Pick your friends carefully? Do your work in secret? Well, if the goal is always to be the hero, always to receive praise, that might be appropriate (though I doubt it would actually work out that way.) Could the key be not to do anything controversial? Just tell people what they want to hear, and be careful where you get involved if we don't want to be the heel; is that it?
I don't think so. Paul chose the harder path - he made it his goal to please God, not man, and let the chips fall where they may. In one of his many letters to encourage the church, Paul explained the motive for all he did: Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ. Ephesians 1:10
Paul was not concerned about his audiences - good or bad. He was concerned about his Master. As a servant of Christ, seeking the approval of the One he served made the reaction of others irrelevant. They could think him a hero or a heel - people are fickle anyway. I see that in my own family.
As a parent, I can attest that choosing to please God more than I want to please my kids often has them seeing me as a heel. They would prefer I say Yes at times I say No. If making them happy is my only goal, Yes would always be the right answer because it makes me a hero. But I am parenting to please the One who entrusted those kids to me, so He is the One I must please, even if that makes me a heel sometimes in my own house. I care how they feel and I care what they think, but my goal cannot be to please them first.
1Thessalonians 2:4 On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts.
Then our goal, too, is to let God test our hearts; in that testing it will be revealed whom we desire to please. If our desire is to please our Master, what others think of us will always be less important than what our God thinks of us. If I am going to be a hero in someone's eyes, then let it be My Lord's for always putting Him first.
Day 142 of 365
2 Kings 20
2 Kings 21
2 Kings 22:1-2
Acts 21:18-36
Psalm 150:1-6
Proverbs 18:9-10
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