March Madness time is upon us!
And
everybody including you loves a good "Cinderella" story. We all cheer for the "David" in a fight against "Goliath." We love to see the "little guy" come out on top.
It's human nature, and I'm not exactly sure why. Maybe its because we all feel like the "little guy" every once and a while, and so therefore we can relate to it!
One of my personal favorite places to see underdog stories is not on the basketball court, believe it or not, but many of them are found in the Bible! Yes you heard me right, think about it, almost all the heroes of the faith that we look up to in the Bible were at one point considered nothing.
- David was the runt of his family watching the sheep. To God he was a man after his own heart.
- Daniel was a teenager in a foreign land with no voice.
- Esther was a poor Jewish girl who saved her people.
- Abraham was an old 90 year old man with no offspring, now he is the father of the Jews.
- Moses was a stammering, stuttering, murderer who brought his people out of oppression.
- Joseph was a hated younger brother who got tossed into jail only to be put second in command of the greatest nation in the world.
The stories go on and on. The more and more I study this, I realize that we serve a God who wants very little to do with the rich, powerful, and those with a high social standing.
God came to earth in the form of Jesus. Jesus himself was a little known Jewish carpenter from the city of Nazareth. Nothing good came from Nazareth. So when it came time for him to begin his earthly ministry what did he do? When he began to assemble his team he didn't choose high ranking government officials, or the most educated Pharisees. What did he do? He chose a rag-tag group of 12 men, some were smelly fishermen, some were cheating tax collectors, others were overly aggressive zealots. Whatever their former occupation, they gave it all up for the sake of the gospel and following Jesus!
In the month of March we will examine some of the heroes God uses, and how we can enter into God's vision for the redemption of this world, and how we can start right where we are in Lebanon, OH.
Like we mentioned at the beginning many of us sometimes feel like "The little guy." But you know what? That doesn't matter, because God likes to use those who are sometimes the underdog. God has a vision for the city of Lebanon, and we can either jump on board with that, or stay at an arm's length. But I tell you what, I'm in, and I hope you join me on mission.
Remember appearance, your past, your status, doesn't matter:
1 Sam 16:7 says, "But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."
