Who’s your hero?

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “A fresh start in a new year”

Our Bible verse for today: “The one who walks with the wise will become wise” Proverbs 13:20 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Who’s your hero?”

Yesterday I had the privilege of performing the funeral for my good friend Johnny Moore. He was ninety-five years old and he lived a very full, very large life. Johnny was a Country Music star in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. As a teenager in Texas, he was already singing on the radio and appearing onstage at jamborees and concerts across the state. Then he had some hit records and shared concert stages with some of the other up-and-coming young stars of that day like Willie Nelson, Jim Reeves, George Jones, Johnny Cash, and a young man named Elvis Presley.

In his mid-thirties Johnny chose to end his career in music because it was too hard on his family. Instead, he took his earnings and invested them in real estate and service stations. He became a successful businessman, owning service stations and investment properties in Texas and Tennessee. But throughout the rest of his life, he also maintained his close friendships with many in the music industry. He also served as a deacon in our church. His was a life lived large. In my opinion he was a Caleb figure (see yesterday’s devotional).

Johnny was also one of the nicest men I have ever known. He was kind and compassionate; friendly and outgoing; and he was very strong in his Christian faith. The fruit of the Spirit ran deep in Johnny (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control), and those character traits then radiated out of him. Everybody loved him because he was such a nice person. Over more than sixteen years of close friendship with him, I have never heard anyone say a bad word about Johnny nor have I heard him say anything unkind about anyone else.

At the funeral yesterday I told of how it is that I have always held certain people up as heroes to me (heroes in the sense that I see in their lives character traits and attributes that I admire and which I would like to be true of me). Caleb is one of my Biblical heroes. Johnny Moore has been one of the real-life heroes who I had the privilege to know personally and therefore to observe closely and learn from.

Proverbs 13:20 is one of the many verses in the Bible that remind us of an important truth about human nature – over time, we become like those we associate with. It’s just a fact. Hang out with bank robbers and pretty soon you too will probably be robbing banks. Spend your time with good godly men like Johnny Moore, and there’s a good chance that some of that will rub off on you and soon you will begin to exhibit some of the behaviors and character traits you admire in him. Those who walk with the wise become wise.

Your mama was right, choose your friends carefully because over time we become like those we associate with. So, I ask you, “Who’s your hero?” Who are those special people you would like to be more like? I encourage you to spend time with them and learn from them.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

(If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00, in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

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