Amateur Heroism

Sarrah Turner tells me that only nerds read the Bible Dictionary. So I'm a nerd. So was Peter Parker. Nerds have a well-established reputation for greatness.

Now that my social status has been established, you can trust me as a legitimate lover of scriptures! The Bible Dictionary states that miracles are based upon three prerequisites:

1. Prayer
2. Felt Need
3. Faith

Prayer is easy. We pray when we leave the apartment, when we leave the car, at meals, during planning, after planning, before miracles, after miracles, before bed, and when we wake up in the morning.

Felt need is also easy. I'm surrounded by needy people all day long. They're tired, they're crabby, they're discouraged, they're deceived. They're hungry and impatient and hurt. In every instance, they are in need. They need saving from provincial cares and mortal burdens.

Superpower

 Faith takes a little more trust, but it is the magical component that hastens the miracles. There is a phrase used in academics. They say that "What is perceived to be real is real in its effect." It is the self-fulfilling prophecy, the potent power of symbolic interaction-ism. Perception (ie: faith) is everything. No longer left to Cindy Lou-Who and other holiday-loving folk, I suspect that faith is the fire that drew Abraham Lincoln through the Civil War. It is the key to greatness and accomplishment.

This is no less impressive than the stuff of comic strips and action films. We have a fearsome enemy, a valiant captain, and a divine sense of identity in our miracle-making endeavors.

I feel like Spiderman mastering my webs. Or Batman putting the finishing touches on his mobile. There is a power in faith unlike anything that I have ever imagined. It's super-human in quality, something that only Marvel films and comic strips acknowledge. The soul that longs to minister will be made heroic through faith in Jesus Christ.

The True Hero

Jesus Christ is the true Hero, the original Hercules. Half-deity, He came. Human so that He could empathize, Godly so He could save, motivated only by the people He was sent to rescue.

He read an Isaiac verse and then brought it to life in His own good life:
"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because he hath anointed me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind..." (Luke 4:18)

Do you sense the heroism? There were no capes or crowds, and his side-kicks were simple fishermen, but in Him we have the archetypal Hero, the only true Savior of mankind.

"...to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness..." (Isaiah 61:1-3)

To the Rescue!

When we claim discipleship, His quest becomes our own. We engage in amateur heroism! We must heal the broken-hearted and give joy where there is mourning, praise where there is heaviness. When we exercise faith in someone else's behalf, we see miracles.

So don your spiritual cape, make you a mask, and join me in the ministry! With faith as our power and Jesus Christ as our example, we can rescue distressed damsels and would-be villains.

Where there is felt need, we add our faith and prayer. And the Bible Dictionary assures us that this recipe, properly cooked, yields miracles. This my friend, is amateur heroics.