Food for Thought: How to be a Hero

♦ Keep your eyes peeled. “Situational awareness” is that 007-like sensitivity to warning signs or threats.
♦ Don’t pass the buck. Heroes don’t wait for others to take action; they step up and quickly.
♦ Put others first. “When someone dives into a frozen lake to save a child, they’re thinking altruistically, not, ‘Hey, what’s in this for me’” says Eric P. Zahren, executive director of the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission.
♦ Be humble. True Good Samaritans believe they are simply doing what anyone in their situation would have done. ARRP Magazine, December/January p. 61

Becoming a hero might seem like something we might want to avoid. Few of us view ourselves as candidates for heroism. Yet we can all be heroes and these four steps are what it takes. We might not be the one who saves a life by jumping into the frozen lake to rescue a child and gets recognized by the police for our bravery. We may not be in a big story in the local newspaper, but we can all be heroes to someone.

We can “keep our eyes peeled,” being sensitive to who might need our help. Is someone we know sick or lonely and needs to be visited? Is there someone who needs a ride to the doctor or to church? Is there someone who needs comforting after losing a loved one, or suffering some other loss? Do we wait, hoping someone else will volunteer, or do we “step up quickly?” “Putting others first” is what we are all called to do. We don’t have to wait for someone to be drowning to see the needs and do something to help. We are also called to “be humble.” We don’t need the big ceremony or our picture in the paper. We simply need to know that we are doing what Jesus taught us is the Christian thing to do.

“Learn to do what is good. Seek justice. Correct the oppressor. Defend the rights of the fatherless. Plead the widow’s cause.” Isaiah 1:17

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10

As Christians we do the right thing not because it saves us, but because Christ saved us. In everything you do, do it all for God’s glory.