Heroism: We All Want Someone to Believe In

There is something about stories of heroism that appeal to the human heart. We want to believe in the ultimately good person. We want to believe in someone who would fight for us, no matter what. We want to believe in a hero who would stand up for what he believes in or loves, even to the point of dying for it.

There is something noble about this sort of sacrifice. We have our Bravehearts and our Joan of Arcs, and when we run out of real-life hero tales, we create them in super hero like Superman and Spiderman. We are hungry for heroes. We want something to believe in.

I read a story once, a long time ago. It was the story of the greatest hero this world has ever known. It was a story of love and passion, a story of self-sacrifice to save a world. It was a beautiful story. It was a true story, and it went something like this:

“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life,” the book of John.

What about a God who died for people so that they could be with him and enjoy a restored relationship with him? What about a Son who loved a world so much that he shed his blood to free them from a curse and give them life?

An ancient letter written to the Romans expresses it well, “Rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man some might dare to die. But God demonstrated His love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

God wrote the perfect love story when he created humankind to enjoy close relationship with him. He knew that we would turn our backs on him, rejecting him, choosing to go our own way — breaking relationship with him. It pains him and his heart breaks when we reject him.

He knew that the only way to restore that broken relationship would be to take the blood of his only son Jesus. Jesus knew that he would be rejected and despised by people. Yet he loved us enough to come anyway to live among us and die for us…for a good man, some might dare to die…”, but who would die for an evil man or an enemy?

I remember watching the movie “The Princess Bride” when I was a little girl. The movie got to the point where Wesley had saved the life of Princess Buttercup, at the risk of losing his own. They got through the fire swamp and at the end saw the evil Humperdink waiting for them. Instead of trusting Wesley, who had already proven himself and saved her several times, she went with Prince Humperdink, so that Wesley would be returned to his ship.

I remember being very upset with her for doing this, since I knew that Wesley was very capable of saving her again. I thought it was stupid! Humperdink tried to kill Wesley (naturally), Wesley wouldn’t stay dead (of course), but instead came back to rescue Buttercup, and ride off into the sunrise together.

That is almost what happened with God and the world. He rescued us over and over and over again. Finally, he was killed for us, but like Wesley, he doesn’t stay dead. He came back to life. He rose from the grave to sweep us off our feet and carry us off to live with him. For he loves the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that anyone who believes in him will not experience permanent separation from him (eternal spiritual death), but will come to experience close relationship with him (eternal spiritual life).

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Hannah is a recent graduate from McMaster University. Copyright iamnext 2003. May not be used without permission.