The Hero In Your Eyes

Luke 12:8-9 “I tell you, whoever publicly acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God. But whoever disowns me before others will be disowned before the angels of God.

I used to see myself as a hero.  Which isn’t surprising since I read a lot of fantasy books, I was always surprising people with my abilities, and I liked to give a lot of wise-sounding advice.   In my own eyes, I was a wonderful person.  

But now when I look back at my life so far, I don’t see the same amazing greatness of the past.  Instead, I see missed opportunities. I see regrets. I see the people I never met, the words I never said, and the places I haven’t been to.  In the few spare moments of my time, my thoughts wander to my unkept promises and false judgements. I often wish that I could go back in time and tell my younger self to stay silent, to speak, to forgive, to move on.  But the past remains hard and rigid, solidly unyielding, a wall of unbroken stone no matter how hard I struggle against it.  

At least forty percent of my missed opportunities have had to do with doing things for God.  As a sinner, I am wired towards disobedience. When I see my chance to spread God’s Word or act kindly toward a stranger, I instantly clam up into silence.  I don’t have any real excuse. All I can say is that I’m lazy, a coward, and definitely not the daring adventurer I once identified myself as.

A character in the New Testament I really identify with is Peter, one of the first disciples of Jesus.  Throughout the Gospels, we see Peter’s boldness, his pride, his eager recklessness. For example, “And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus” (Matthew 14:28-29).  And later, “Peter answered him, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.  Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” And all the disciples said the same” (Matthew 26:33, 35).  

Only during the story of Jesus’ crucifixion does Peter fully realize who he is, after he betrays Jesus three times.  He is given three chances to uphold Jesus and instead denies Him. “And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly” (Matthew 26:75).  

Denying Christ, for all my vaguely brave actions, has been most of my life, and forty percent of my missed opportunities at the least.  What kind of hero am I?

So instead of acknowledging myself, I want to acknowledge Christ.  I want to praise Him to the skies. I don’t want to miss a single opportunity to let people know that I am a Christian.  Even Christian T-shirts can help. They can even start a conversation that I can use to spread the Word that Jesus Is King.

What about your life?  Who is the hero, in your eyes?   Remember, the hero of the Gospel is Christ alone!  These women’s T-shirts are great reminders of this.  Use our T-shirts to acknowledge Christ as your hero and proclaim Him to others.  Don’t miss another chance to let them know that Jesus Is King with one of our shirts.