Disappointment. Once again, a Christian leader has fallen off the pedestal. Of course, I should never have placed them on it. But in my mind, they are not what they once were. Maybe they never were.

I need good examples–role models who live out what it means to walk by faith and reflect God’s glory. My heart cries out for inspiration to live for God day by day. Can I really do what God made me and saved me to do? How have others done this before me?

Present Heroes

I’ve admired God’s servants from afar. At times, God has given me the privilege of working alongside some of them. I have found that none of them are perfect. And they have discovered that neither am I.

Some that I have expected to do right have done wrong. Other godly men have locked horns with each other when they should have worked together in unity. I feel disillusioned. If they have crumbled under pressure, what hope do the rest of us have?

Past Heroes

Perhaps I will find it safer to retreat to the safety of the past. I love reading missionary biographies. I write about them in my missions devotionals. If my heroes are dead, they cannot surprise me with a sudden failure.

Yet, the problem once again resurfaces. In an honest biography, the author avoids the trap of hagiography.1 As I read, I discover that even the most faithful servants of God have moments (or more) of faltering or straying from God’s path. Some hold doctrinal positions different from mine. Others make choices that cause me to scratch my head. If my heroes are not heroes, where does this leave me?

I turn to Scripture, but the problem gets worse because God is no hagiographer. He reveals both the triumphs and the failures of His people. Somehow in His list of heroes of in Hebrews, He includes shocking names including Samson and Jephthah! As I consider what He as written, I realize that God intended them to be examples of faith, not heroes on a pedestal.

The Only Hero

With no other choices, I turn to my last hope. Yet, He should have been my first. Every human hero fails, and when they do, they point to the need for a better Hero, a better Leader, a better Example. Jesus is better.

The Epistle to the Hebrews makes this argument from the beginning of the book. Jesus is better than angels (Hebrews 1:4). He surpasses Moses’ greatness (Hebrews 3:3). He shines brighter than those in the list of Hebrews 11. God tell us to turn our eyes to Jesus, not the faithful but flawed examples of faith that ran the race before us: “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). The true Hero is already seated above. I cannot elevate Him beyond what He deserves.

Not Heroes

Idols sit on pedestals. God never intended for His creation to become idols. Pedestals are not for people.

Yes, all my heroes are broken–all but One. I acknowledge this truth. In it, I find help and hope.

  1. I see that God heals the broken (Psalm 51:17).
  2. I can learn from my former heroes, imitating the good they did and avoiding where they stumbled (1 Corinthians 10:6-14).
  3. I can give God glory for the good I see in others. Only in God’s strength can frail men and women do what pleases Him (Philippians 2:13).
  4. I find encouragement that God can use me like He has used other imperfect people.

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1).

Photo Credit: Ali Kokab on unsplash.

  1. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, hagiography is “a very admiring book about someone or a description of someone that represents the person as perfect or much better than they really are.” It is idealizing or idolizing someone like venerating a saint in Roman Catholicism. My reviews of missionary biographies have a rating for how hagiographic a biography is. ↩︎