The Heart of a Man
“Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees all others.” _Winston Churchill
Craig Groeschel, in his book: Fight: Winning the Battles That Matter Most, writes:
“On September 11, 2001, four airplanes went down, in New York, in Washington, and in Pennsylvania. I was actually on an airplane when the attacks began. Todd Beamer was on one too. He did what I hope I would do, what I hope my son would do. An enemy was on his plane, using strength to harm innocent people. After secretly phoning people on the ground, Todd learned that other evil men were flying planes into buildings to kill innocent people. Realizing that these men planned to do the same with his plane, Todd wouldn’t—Todd couldn’t—stand for it. Here was a man with the heart of a warrior. It was time. He drew a line in the sand and said, “Let’s roll.” I don’t know exactly what happened on that plane. But one man with a cause greater than his own life made a stand: “I won’t let you kill innocent people. I will take you down, take this plane down. If I go down with it, so be it. I’ll give my life to save others.” That is the heart of a warrior.”
I will not argue with Groeschel, call it being a warrior if you like, but truthfully, at its core, “I will give my life to save others” is simply the heart of a real man.
And more broadly, male or female, it is the heart all who choose to err on the side of saving lives. The moment our choices become about my rights and freedoms, and survival we can be assured that our heart is being corrupted.
And this is especially true for Christians, for their example is Jesus who laid aside the rights and privileges of divinity to redeem a lost and dying humanity on a Cross.
The ONE THING for today: At the end of this day and at the end of your life, any lasting good that you have done will be attached to what you did to save and enhance the lives of others. Keep that central and foremost in your decisions and actions today.
Photo by Aaron Thomas on Unsplash
