I initially looked at this week's topic and paused, my face in a contorted question. How did I answer this question?
My first thought was to be super cliché and say “Jesus!” And it would be true. Jesus is my superhero – and far more. In some ways I feel like I do Him a disservice by putting Him in a category like “superhero” and somehow disconnect His saving abilities from the redemption and love and ultimate sacrifice by which our understanding of “superhero” could and should be blown away.
Not to mention...this topic is connected to the person I admire most.
And then I sighed deeply. I still didn’t have a good answer. Actually, I had no answer at all. Not because there is no one I admire. On the contrary, I just couldn’t pick.
People and faces began to flash through my mind. I smiled thinking about some of my personal world’s most favorite people. And I had a dangerously hard time trying to elevate one above the other to create an “admired most”. Of all of people of whom I am the self proclaimed president of fan clubs, I decided that I couldn’t decide...
The people I most admire are all unique and different individuals. The things I admire in each vary from person to person. However, of the fact I admire them...they all seem to share some key characteristics...
- They are present. Let’s face it...I’m president of fan clubs of people who I might only know in passing or watch from a distance and am compelled by the lives, character, hearts, endeavors... but those who I admire most are real people in my real life. I most look up to the people with whom I have the opportunity to interact.
- It’s intentional. Selfishly, some of the people I most admire are also the ones who appear to have a vested interested in my life. They encourage me, pray for me. They feed into me in a way that stems from friendship and relationship. They push me closer to God. They are there when I need them...sometimes before I can even get up the courage to ask.
- Whether it be sarcasm, puns, unfortunate jokes, quirky isms, ironic stories, shared humor, remembered times together... They make me laugh. We laugh together.
- There is “something more”. Always more. Those I admire are deep and complex people. I could spend a lifetime (hopefully it is so) getting to know people, realizing I have barely skimmed the surface of all things which run true...
- They love people. They value people. Their lives are in ways both big and small about service because they know life isn’t about only them.
- They love Jesus. Most of them far more than life itself. And it shows. Their passion is contagious and compelling. I am propelled in my walk with Christ simply because I see theirs.
- There is a restless but holy discontent which says what ‘is’ is also not what it could be. They are looking to be found more faithful, to follow God more closely. They have visions and dreams about what could be if lives were lived in radical obedience – whatever that might mean, whenever it might mean it...
And that might be my short list.
I know I have to be careful not to put others on pedestals they neither want nor deserve. They are as human as I. I know the state of my own heart and how much work is still being done...remodeling, light construction, some massive overhauling...in attempts to be more like Jesus. I know how much I would hate to be pedestal-ed in the midst of my own “sinful disease” and if “no one is good, no not one” (Psalm 14:3/53:3, Romans 3:12) then no matter how much I admire them for reasons big and small...I can never put them on display. I follow Jesus first (1 Corinthians 1:12-13) and not man. Christ isn’t divided and so the only people I can follow are the ones already in line following Jesus.
And yet, for that same reason, I also I don’t think this admiration is wrong. You see I truly believe that “inasmuch as one pushes you closer to God, he/she is your closest friend.” To admire (via dictionary definition) is to “to regard with esteem, respect, approval, or pleased surprise”. And the more time I see where people are admired in scripture – the more I see that they can have my approval because they already have God’s. (Not just approval or worth as a person but a mark of respect upon the work they are doing and the lives they are living).
Paul starts his letter to the Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians (1 and 2), and Philemon specifically in thanksgiving for their work, their love, their faithfulness, their steadfastness, their generosity, their strength in furthering the Gospel and building the Church and encouraging fellow believers. He gives shout outs in many letters to those he knows by name for any number of similar reasons.
Paul admires them. He regards them in high esteem because for as much as he seeks to encourage and refresh them, they are oft noted for their care and encouragement of Paul himself. He sees the living Christ working in and through them.
Admiration comes with this idea of looking up to another person...watching in awestruck wonder as I find myself compelled to follow Jesus in such a fashion as I see. Perhaps what stands out most clearly of my short list are the attributes of the God I admire most found in those I admire most...
Thank you for being people I admire. Who walk with the mark of Christ on their lives...who compel me towards a richer, deeper, truer, more authentic and more obvious relationship with my Superhero...the Superhero of superheroes. May I find myself in a place where my life too is worth admiring...not for my own sake (heaven forbid I be admired for something in my own right) but so that together we may have “the eyes of our heart enlightened...that we may know the hope to which we have been called, the riches of the glorious inheritance in the saints and His incomparably great power for us who believe...” (Ephesians 1:18-19)
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