Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.
But for Adam no suitable helper was found.
So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. Genesis 2 : 18 - 22
If you haven't heard or figured it out yet, we're looking into the the part of Hebrews that lists the Biblical Heroes and what they did this semester during Large Group (chapter 11 to be specific). Basically, these people lived an extremely heroic life, and as intimidating or awesome as it might sound, we are believing that we can and should lead a heroic life. So we're looking at the traits of a hero- last week's post has a few characteristics if you're looking to power up. But this week we are told that heroes need to have people.
There is a desire, no, a force that makes interaction with people essential in our lives. Not for trade or convenience. We need relationships with people. There's a craving to know someone, and be known: no one likes to be lonely, not even the introvert, a commonly seen creature at Colorado School of Mines. No, we all need friends, no matter what manner we interact with them.
Yeah, there's times where I do feel alone in the midst of thousands of people around me. There's times when I'm sure you do too. And having alone time isn't bad- it's the feeling alone that is bad. In Genesis, we see that God created us to be social and sharers, and it's not good to be alone. It feels gross, and then you want ice cream and then you eat too much at one time, and then you feel even grosser.
Superman didn't just fight evil. No, Clark Kent was a person who had parents back home. He built relationships in his day-to-day life at his mild-mannered job. And maybe we like to stick to yourself. Maybe we don't want to feel vulnerable; to get your kryptonite exposed. But realize that Superman's interaction with people was not his....weakness (I can't say kryptonite because kryptonite was his kryptonite....uhhhh.....). Knowing and loving people makes him relatable to us. So we should get to know people. Be honest and trust the good ones.
But say we've found some people, or they've found us. Then as a hero sent by God, we are called to love one another, and share life with them, and be vulnerable.
Nathan was a hero mentioned in Hebrews, and a very heroic thing he did was confront his friend before he blew up his life. He risked their friendship to save his friend's life because that was his responsibility. The truth hurt, but he still had the courage to do what hurt.
If we are called to be heroes, then we also must have that mutual courage to speak truth into each other's lives. To pursue people, and to be pursued. To have openess with one another, and take their true advice to heart. It's a refining process, and yeah we might get hurt. But gosh, we need this...having people in our lives.
I think we have an awesome community of IV people (or whatever you want to call us). I think there are heroes in our midst as I type this. But as a community, we are all called to be Nathans. Now I don't mean being annoying and calling each other out, because that is not what Nathan did. We should love each other (and yeah, I know we already do) so much though....that we are willing to take responsibility to tell them what's up. Or let them know what's going down in our lives.
It's not easy (we even discussed this in the comments section a little last week). It's not gonna come automatically because so-and-so is a cool person and you love them. No, we need people to choose to be a hero by speaking truth out of love.
Will you choose to be a hero to someone else? Or let others see into your life and be your friend? Can we take a little time this week to sit down and listen to them, or give them a high-five or encouragement when they're feeling down?
