Heroes: Devotions From Time of Grace MinistrySample

SACRIFICE: JONATHAN

If you want to see naked human ambition, just get inside a political campaign. The higher the office, the more desperate and hard-edged the game becomes. One of President Nixon's operatives said once, "You are measured in this town by the size of the people you have destroyed."

Imagine the pressure and longing in the heart of the crown prince in a monarchy. You won't have to run for election – supreme authority and wealth are guaranteed to be yours. King Saul's son Jonathan should have been king. But he knew that the prophet Samuel had anointed David as his father's successor.

Jonathan is a hero not only because he was such a true and loyal friend to David, but because he so cheerfully and generously gave up his hopes for the throne. He told David, "May the LORD be with you as He has been with my father. But show me unfailing kindness like that of the LORD as long as I live, so that I may not be killed, and do not ever cut off your kindness from my family – not even when the LORD has cut off every one of David's enemies from the face of the earth. So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David." (1 Samuel 20:13-16)

Can you root for people who have a high position you think you deserve? Could you buck your own father when you know he's wrong? Can you accept a smaller role in life than you wanted or expected if you see that it is God's will? Have you learned how to find joy in sacrificing your wants so that someone else can benefit?