Notes of Faith April 20, 2023
You Are Essential: Everyday Heroes
The word hero gets thrown around a lot. A friend who brings you coffee on a busy day might seem like a hero in that moment, but the real heroes are the ones who put themselves in danger for the good of others. We often think of police officers, members of the armed services, firefighters, and other first responders — and they are, undoubtedly, heroes.
However, there are other everyday people who become heroes in a crisis, risking their lives to help. Volunteers who clear rubble after earthquakes or paddle out into floodwaters to rescue survivors are heroes. So are the doctors and nurses on the front lines battling diseases.
The good, dependable folks who go to work even in the midst of terror attacks, pandemics, and natural disasters are pretty heroic too. They rarely get honors for their service, but without them we wouldn’t be able to buy groceries, send our kids to school, have clean buses and bathrooms, buy gas, or any of the other countless things that keep our country running.
So thank an everyday hero today.
You Are Able to Love Others
Following Jesus is not for the faint of heart.
Jesus doesn’t let us sing some hymns and go to Bible study each week and say we’re done. He challenges us to do more and be better. He dares us to be bolder and braver and to love harder. He urges us to step outside of our comfort zones to care for one another in the middle of our messy lives and emotions.
Jesus was human too. He knows how we feel and what our weaknesses are. But He also knows what we are capable of. He doesn’t ask us to do anything that we can’t do. So when the Bible tells us to “love one another” and to “outdo one another in showing honor,” we can be confident that those are things we can absolutely do.
How will you rise to the challenge today?
You're a Miracle.
Go outside tonight and look up at the stars. Count as many of them as you can. The longer you look, the smaller you will feel. Isn’t it amazing that out of the vastness of space you are standing in this exact place at this exact time? The chances of your being born, just as you are, is more than one in four hundred trillion.1 Crazy! It’s truly a miracle that you are here. So what are you, as a living, breathing miracle, going to do with your one miraculous life? You owe it to yourself to make it count. Take the time to find what you are passionate about. Dig deep and discover your purpose. Discover how you can use your unique strengths to make the difference in this world that you were born to make.
“You are special, and so is your neighbor”— that part is essential: that you're not the only special person in the world. The person you happen to be with at the moment is loved, too. ~ Fred Rogers
Love Everyone
Each of us matters to someone. Your mailman is a beloved husband. Your child’s teacher is a cherished daughter. The barista at your favorite coffee shop is someone’s best friend. Think about your people. How would you want them to be treated by strangers?
Each of us deserves love, kindness, and respect. Life is challenging. We can all fall into thinking that our people and our lives matter most sometimes. But the truth is that we all need each other. Every person you meet deserves to be treated like they are one of your people — the people you love and cherish most. If we can all remember to treat others with that kind of love, imagine what a difference it would make!
Excerpted from You Are Essential, copyright Thomas Nelson.
Psalm 139 tells us a more important perspective … God created you! He made you exactly as you are, gave you specific parents, placed you in the world and loves you beyond anyone else! There is nothing more essential in your life than the love of God. Read this psalm over and over. Meditate on God’s love for you and learn to love Him because He loved you first!
Pastor Dale