O Spirit of the living God, Thou Light and Fire Divine
Descend upon Thy Church once more and make it truly Thine
Fill it with love and joy and power, with righteousness and peace
Till Christ shall dwell in human hearts, and sin and sorrow cease.(Spirit of the Living God by Audrey Assad)
We all want to be a heroes. I know as a guy I always fantasized as a kid about being some great superhero swooping in to save the day. Even to this day, I would not mind doing such heroic acts. I can remember dressing up as Batman jumping around and wanting to be a part in saving someone, in stopping the bad things in their life and bringing them somewhere safe. Even in little moments as I grew up, I still had these dreams. However, I am beginning to think that the most heroic thing any man or woman can do is to sit back and just be. This can be the most impactful act of all.
“You can be anything you want to be.”
“The only thing holding yourself back is you.”
“Change the world.”
These are just a few phrases that I have heard in my life. I think they have wonderful intentions, but I am beginning to believe that they miss the boat. What if we aren’t supposed to change the world? What if we are just supposed to wait on the one who can? I have waited my whole life to get to college hoping for some great revelation along the way that might guide me to where I need to be or what I need to do. However, I am here and to be completely honest, I have got nothing. I have been told that “you will do great things” and that scares me more days than not. That kid who used to run around wanting to save everyone hides his face more often than not. The intentions are still there, but the zeal that once fueled me is waning.
I have spent years attempting to reach the passions that I once had in hopes of becoming someone who was always on fire. I wanted to “change the world.” Now, I do not think that is the right thing to do. I do not think we should set out to save the world. I do not think that is what Jesus did. I think Jesus just was. He walked in the steps of the grace of the Father. What if we stopped trying to change the world and just lived as He did?
Jesus walked and changed people. The moments of His life brought beauty and squelched sin. His Spirit does the same thing each and every day, not from anything that we do. I know I lose sight of this and I think that if we step back from the ideas of heroism and just truly believed in that power, then great things would happen. This is what makes the Gospel so good. No part of this is us. We just let the wind of God take us where he leads.
I believe that there is beauty in the mundane and that we need people that drastically change the world. Let the Spirit move in peace, joy, and love so that we may walk in those characteristics. We need less heroes, because we already have one. That is the beauty of the Gospel; it takes the weight off of us. We walk in the life that was laid down for us, so that trying is no longer something that matters and being takes precedence over all. Be one with Him and each another. This is our call. So I guess you could say I do not want to be great anymore, as long as I walk in His love.