For some odd reason, I was thinking about that part from Kill Bill Vol. 2 where Bill is describing super heroes. All the rest put on a costume, he says, to be the superhero and fight evil. That is their diguise. Superman, on the other hand, wears a costume, the suit and tie bit, to blend in. His regular clothes are the blue S outfit. In other words, for him being a hero is not something he becomes by putting on a costume, but something he does every day as a part of who he is.

That’s a hero. Not someone who tries to do great things, but someone who does what he does and performs ordinary feats in extraordinary circumstances. A hero is someone who has built a lifestyle of habits of doing good things and helping other people. They never consciously set out to be a hero, but to do their job. When that extraordinary circumstance occurs, they only do what they know to do, what they have done day in and day out.

In the spiritual sense, the heroes of the faith were (and are) not people who set out to be spiritual giants. They set out to be obedient and faithful. They cultivated a lifetime of making habits of obedience in small things and faithfulness with the talents God gave them. Then God brought the fiery furnace or the lions den and they responded by doing what they had always done– be faithful and obey God.

We are not called to be heroic, but faithful. We are not called to rescue the world (I think that job’s taken). We are called to be witnesses to what we’ve seen and heard and obey what God has called us to.

Jesus is the ultimate hero. His mission, astounding in its unwavering devotion and purpose, was to please His Father and to do and say the things God called him to do and say. He was perfectly faithful and obedient. He calls us to do the same. Love God, love others, trust and obey, no matter what. God may put you in a circumstance where you end up a hero, or he may call you to obscurity. Your and my response should be the same either way– trust and obey.

“There He goes – a hero. A savior to the world.
Here He stands with scars in His hands.
With love He gave His life so we could be free.
The Savior of the world.” (Abandon)