I love the Beatles. Their songs. Their musicianship. In my opinion, nothing in pop music has ever been equaled since they were together. John Lennon, one of the Beatles, was one of the immediately recognizable faces of the Beatles. As I followed his career, memorizing his songs, and witticisms, I began to see a darker side. It erupted during a very difficult period of John Lennon’s life, one that biographers and reporters have dubbed, “The Lost Weekend.” For a period of eighteen months, Lennon’s life spiraled downward and he was often drunk, belligerent, and unproductive as an artist. The final straw was a public event when he heckled a well-known comedy duo, disrupting the performance with a drunken tirade. The waitress who served Lennon and was inadvertently hit by a glass that Lennon threw, lamented, “I wasn’t hurt by his assault. It’s finding out one of your heroes is a real jerk.”
We all have people whom we admire. We call them heroes, role models, people we place on a pedestal. It may be one’s parents, teachers, friends, or an athlete or celebrity. The common element is they all possess a character trait or skill which we would like to emulate. John Lennon was one of my heroes when I was young. But what I was attempting to emulate? His song-writing skills? Definitely. His moral character? Like the hapless waitress, we can be quickly disappointed.
Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there. When they breathe their last, they return to the earth, and all their plans die with them. But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the LORD their God.
Psalms 146:3-5 (NLT)
While it should be evident that putting our trust in people may lead to disappointment and failure, what alternative do we have? Is there any person who will never disappoint us? Is there any person who lived a perfect life? If there is, wouldn’t he be worthy of our admiration, our accolades, and our allegiance?
Only Jesus Christ fulfills all of these conditions. He is the perfect Man and God. He lived a sinless life. He held the universe in the palms of His hands but allowed nails to be driven through them to reconcile the relationship that sin had destroyed between man and God. He is the supreme example of love, compassion, and sacrifice.
My hero is God, my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.
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