Encouragement

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“Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.” - James 5:17

Something I dislike about church systems: how they elevate certain persons because of what they were known to do. For a long time I could not relate to these historic people because of the pedestal the church had given them.

Then one day I did something really radical that helped me to relate to these people.

I read the Book about them.

I read of Adam hiding from God when he had done something wrong. There was Moses who argued with God at the burning bush when He told Moses to go back to Pharoah. How about David sleeping with another man's wife, and then kills her husband?

Of course we have Elijah above. Probably the most venerated of all the prophets of Israel among the Jews. In the Gospels he is the most mentioned by them. I wonder if they were recalling how after killing 400 pagan prophets he runs away like scared girl after being threatened by a woman with death.

Of course there is Esther who is apprehensive about what Mordecai suggests to her to save the Jews.

We have Mary's Magnificat, where she confesses the need for a Savior. That implies she knew she was a sinner.

Then we have Peter and the other eleven disciples. What do we know them for, arguing and doubting?

I can relate to these guys, everyone of them. I find that I like them.

What makes a miracle a miracle? It is simply something happening contrary to nature, right?

What are these famous people in the Bible? Natural people doing supernatural things because of a supernatural God. Is it possible they became famous because they were ordinary people doing extraordinary things? Was it them, or the God in their lives?

When I read my Bible I see a God who unabashedly portrays these people with all their faults to show us He can do the same thing with us. That is the beauty of removing the pedestal that has been placed under these revered saints. If one still has these people on pedestals maybe that person needs to read the Bible for what it says. Maybe they really have not read it at all.

As it is, the word “saint” is a form of the word “sanctify” meaning to make something common into something holy. The Bible promises to make any believer holy and commands us to be sanctified. So in a sense if one is letting themselves be sanctified by the Holy Spirit, that person is a saint. God makes saints, not men.

It seems to me the fact that these people were so ordinary gives us hope because we are just like them. For some of us we may be like them because we believe, maybe follow, the same God they did.

I have learned a great lesson from this: when I take away the ordinary truth about these “Saints” I also take away the hope for myself.

I think I will choose to believe what the Bible says about them being ordinary people, with a nature like ours.

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