We all love a hero. I have been associated with the military for a long time and have heard many, many stories about heroes. Some of the most popular movies and TV shows for children revolve around superheroes. There is a reason for that. Stories about heroes are inspiring. Even fictional stories are entertaining.
The same is true of Christians. We love to hear stories of great heroes of the faith. We are amazed at the bravery of Christian martyrs like Peter and Paul. Books, such as Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, have been written about such people. If we hear about a missionary who laid down his or her life for Christ, we look up to them.
That is understandable. But there is a danger. We can adopt the attitude that only dramatic feats of bravery make a person a hero of the faith. For FG people, we might think that only believers who do spectacular and newsworthy things for the Lord will be great in His kingdom or reign with Him. That would be a mistake.
In Rom 5:2-4, Paul talks about heroes of the faith. He mentions some characteristics of their lives. They “rejoice in hope.” They go through tribulations. They experience the love of God by the work of the Spirit in their lives.
In chapter 8, Paul concludes the section that began in chapter 5. These heroes are people who are steadfast in prayer. They live their lives in the power of the Spirit (Rom 8:26). As we would expect, believers like this suffer for the Lord. They are those who are killed for Him. Paul specifically states that they will reign with the Lord in His kingdom (8:17-18, 36).
Romans 5–8 seems to support the idea that those who will be great in the kingdom will be those who suffer for the Lord in spectacular ways. Once again, martyrs come to mind. Maybe people like you and me are disqualified.
But Paul gives us another perspective in Romans 12. He mentions the same concepts we saw in Romans 5 and 8. In Rom 12:9-12, he encourages the readers in Rome to love, to “rejoice in hope,” to be “patient in tribulation,” to be “fervent in Spirit,” and to continue “steadfastly in prayer.” The repetition of these themes is no accident. The readers of chapter 12 can be the same heroes Paul describes in chapters 5 and 8.
But how can they be? What do they have to do? Do they have to become martyrs?
No. In Romans 12, Paul is talking about serving one another in the church. They are to serve others with their spiritual gifts (12:3-8). They are to love one another. They are to walk humbly with other believers, not thinking too highly of themselves. They are to give to those in need. They are to show hospitality (12:9-13).
These are all mundane things. These are things we won’t see on the evening news or read about in a book on martyrs. I find that encouraging. The Lord says that anybody who serves within the Body of Christ is a hero of the faith. We may never have the opportunity to lay down our lives for the Lord in a blaze of glory. But we can still be heroes. We can do it in the way we live our everyday lives.
Q: What makes a Christian a hero of the faith?
