Everyone wants to be noticed. Whether it’s by a special someone, family, or the world, we all have this desire to be heard, seen, and loved. Social media has fueled this desire all the more! The more likes we get on a picture or status, or more views when you go live, the more we feel good about ourselves. It makes us feel wanted and loved.
Historically speaking, if you want to be noticed and remembered, you have to do something big! You have to, not only achieve something great, but be the first to do it or do it better than anyone before. My guess is very, very few people know Buzz Aldrin. He was the second man to walk on the moon. (Yes, I had to google it.) Even though Buzz did something absolutely incredible we all only dream of doing, we only know Neil Armstrong because he was the first. The same, unfortunately, also goes for those who do incredible acts of evil. We all know the name Hitler because of his misguided views and the genocide against entire groups of people.
Even within Christian circles. The people we remember and talk about are the ones who did something big and incredible. Moses, Abraham, Solomon, David, Paul, Peter, Elijah, Noah, and others who accomplished something incredible. (Or have a book named after them like Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Who were they and what did they do? Wrote a book of the Bible!) We want to be like these people. We want the Spirit of God to move through us the way it moved through these great super heroes of the faith. Few know or study Enoch, Simeon, Zechariah, or Melchizedek.
Many refer to Hebrews 11 as the Hall of Faith chapter. It mentions several who God used in powerful ways through the Holy Spirit to do absolutely incredible things! But then the author of Hebrews goes on to say time does not allow for “others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated”
Most of us pray for God to do something incredible through us. We pray to have the mighty works of the first group, not the second group. But think about the faith they had! These individuals who we will never know their name, never know of any great accomplishment, and yet they were so sure about what they believed and had such faith in God they endured some of the most painful physical pain any one person could! These men and women are my heroes!
It has been my experience, the truly great Christians are the ones the world will never know. The greatest Christians are the ones who are faithfully serving God day in and day out to the best of their ability for decades. They are grandmothers and grandfathers who walked with the Lord daily and have a presence that is intoxicating and life-giving. They are the older men and women in the Church who have walked faithfully with God the majority of their life. They are the ones who, whatever their occupation was, did it with excellence and honored God through it all. They are the ones who, in the parable of the talents, might only have only one talent, yet have used it faithfully for years and years! They are the ones who understand it’s not about how much you have, but how you use what you have. They are not flashy, but have incredible disciplines in their walk with God. They know God in a way most people ever will! They are the ones that I want to be when I grow up.
If you ever have a chance to sit down and talk with one of these great people of faith, ask them to share how they’ve seen God provide in their lifetime. Ask them how they’ve seen God’s faithfulness in different seasons of life. Ask them how they were able to stay so faithful for so long. Ask them how they have seen God move over the years. Ask them to pray over you and for you. Seek their guidance and wisdom.