仰望英雄Looking up to Heroes
[每日靈修] 12/16/2018, 駱鴻銘編譯
我還是男孩時，我想的就像個男孩。我表現得像男孩。我的理解力像個男孩。英雄給我留下了深刻的印象。他們絕大多數都是體育界的風雲人物。有Doak Walker，Charlie“Choo
Choo”Justice，Sammy Baugh，Bob Waterfield，Felix“Doc”Blanchard，Johnny Lujack。我囤積並交換棒球卡。
隨著年齡漸長，我們的英雄會改變，但我們還是擁有他們。要是你今天到我家，進門不久就可以看到我的英雄們。你不可能錯過Martin Luther，Stonewall Jackson和Robert E. Lee的肖像。你會看到我父親和祖父的褪色照片。你會看到奧古斯丁，托馬斯•阿奎那和喬納森•愛德華茲的作品。你會聽到我說約翰•格斯特納（John Gerstner）。這些名字在我的辦公室裏很顯眼——雖然在阿諾德•帕爾默的像框旁邊可能有點不協調。
奇怪，不是嗎？我們需要榜樣。我們需要激勵我們的領導者，真正有血有肉的人，體現出我們欽佩的性格特徵，因為在這種欽佩和激勵中，就會產生模仿。我知道我永遠不會成為馬丁路德。上帝和我所有的高爾夫老師都知道我永遠不會成為阿諾德•帕爾默。我不能成為這些人。但我可以嘗試效法他們。當我面對生活的挑戰時，我可以模仿他們的勇氣。從他們的榜樣我可以變得強大。
雖然希伯來書十一章中引用的「雲彩般的見證人」是英雄和女英雄的名單，但他們仍然是真正有血有肉的人，聖經為我們列舉了他們的生命。他們的畫像是為我們預備的——包括所有的缺點。在妓女喇合的生命中，我們甚至也可以找到一些值得稱讚的東西，值得效法的東西。
願我們永遠不會長大到再也無法仰望的地步。
活在神的面光中（在神面前禱告）：
誰是你的英雄？他們為你的屬靈生活提供了什麼積極的榜樣？
進一步研讀：
來十二1 我們既有這許多的見證人，如同雲彩圍著我們，就當放下各樣的重擔，脫去容易纏累我們的罪，存心忍耐，奔那擺在我們前頭的路程， 仰望為我們信心創始成終的耶穌（或作：仰望那將真道創始成終的耶穌）。祂因那擺在前面的喜樂，就輕看羞辱，忍受了十字架的苦難，便坐在神寶座的右邊。
詩一二三1 坐在天上的主啊，我向你舉目。 看哪，僕人的眼睛怎樣望主人的手，使女的眼睛怎樣望主母的手，我們的眼睛也照樣望耶和華我們的神，直到祂憐憫我們。
Looking
up to Heroes
When
I was a boy I thought like a boy. I behaved like a boy. I understood like a
boy. I was deeply impressed by heroes. Mostly, they were figures from the
sports world. There was Doak Walker, Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice, Sammy Baugh,
Bob Waterfield, Felix “Doc” Blanchard, Johnny Lujack. I hoarded and traded
baseball cards.
As we
grow older, our heroes change, but we don’t stop having them. Enter into my
home today and it will not take long for you to see who my heroes are now. You
can’t miss the portraits of Martin Luther, Stonewall Jackson, and Robert E.
Lee. You’ll see the fading photographs of my father and my grandfather. You’ll
see the works of Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and Jonathan Edwards. You’ll hear
me speak of John Gerstner. These names are readily apparent in my office—though
perhaps a bit incongruous next to the framed portrait of Arnold Palmer.
Strange,
isn’t it? We need models. We need leaders who inspire us, real people of flesh
and blood who embody character traits we admire, for in that admiration and
inspiration comes emulation. I know that I shall never be Martin Luther. God
and all my golf teachers know I’ll never be Arnold Palmer. I cannot be these
men. But I can try to be like them. I can imitate their courage as I face
life’s challenges. I can be strengthened by their examples.
Though
the “cloud of witnesses” cited in Hebrews 11 is a list of heroes and heroines,
they are, nevertheless, people of real flesh and blood whose lives are set
forth for us in sacred Scripture. Their portraits are painted there for us,
warts and all. We even find something praiseworthy, something worth emulating,
in the life of the harlot, Rahab.
Let
us never grow up so far that we can no longer look up.
Coram
Deo
Who
are your heroes? What positive examples do they provide for your spiritual
life?
Passages
for Further Study
Hebrews
12:1–2
Psalm
123:1–2
