Heroes: Devotions From Time of Grace MinistrySample

INTRODUCTION

Nobody can figure out life on his or her own – it's just too complicated and too bewildering. We all need people we can look up to, people who have gone ahead and figured things out, people whose attitudes and achievements and style we can try to emulate.

When I was a kid, I looked up to Eddie Mathews and Hank Aaron. As a teenager I admired the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. As a seminary student I absorbed a great deal from people I thought were first-rate Bible teachers, musicians, and churchmen. These days what intrigues me are people who led transformational change in their organizations, people who adapted to an ever-changing America and world, people who imagine new ways of telling a grand old story.

The greatest of all sources for heroes, though, is not "Sports Illustrated" or "Seventeen" or "Cosmopolitan." It is the Bible. In this daily devotional plan, I bring you my personal list of 31 heroes from sacred Scripture.

These people were all sinners, just like me. They all made mistakes, just like you. And yet their faith in God and their open and repentant hearts allowed God's Spirit to work within their frailties to do great things, to lift other people up, to advance God's kingdom, to make great the name of a saving God.

Each one of these men and women is a hero to me in areas in which I want to grow, and maybe you do too: humility, obedience, courage, overcoming, leadership, sacrifice, and showing a servant-heart.

I hope that you find hope and inspiration in these stories.

–Pastor Mark Jeske