My kids are avid collectors of baseball cards. Their eagerness for acquiring new cards reminded me recently of my own boyhood enthusiasm for collecting and trading the pictures of the heroes of my own generation. I had great admiration for the ball players pictured on the placards and spent a great deal of time memorizing and analyzing the data recorded on the back of each card. As I grew older, however, I learned some painful lessons about heroes. In real life, the flesh and blood players never quite measured up to the image projected on the cards. When I discovered the sometimes sordid details of their personal lives, I felt that I had been betrayed... and my enthusiasm for the cards waned...

Life is never what we wish it were. People have a way of letting us done. But there is ONE upon whom we can always depend - One who will not fail us or disappoint us. Jesus is the one truly heroic personality in all of human history. He is the "captain of our salvation", the "author and finisher of our faith", and the "Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world". The difference between Christ and earthly heroes is evident in the following catalogue of the shortcomings of heroes.

1. They disappear. The players I idolized as a boy have all vanished from the game. A few years back the words of a pop song asked, "Where have you gone, Joe Dimaggio? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you..." In other words, "where are you, Joe, when we need you?" Unlike others, Jesus does not fade away. He is "the same yesterday and today, yes, and forever". (Heb. 13:8) He is the one who has promised "I am with you always even to the end of the age." (Matt.28:20)
2. They disillusion. Real life baseball players have never thrilled me as much as their pasteboard images once did. The promise of the colored cards is belied by the imperfections of the man! They do not measure up to their pictures. They are not as advertised. Mickey Mantle could hit a baseball 500 feet but he was a moral midget. Reggie Jackson may be called "Mr. Baseball", but he is also a self-centered, selfish egotist. In contrast, Jesus exhibits a perfection which fulfills the promise, "He did no sin", the scriptures affirm (I Pet. 2:22) With Jesus there is nothing to cover up... nothing to delete from the record... nothing to apologize for or explain away. He alone is deserving of the accolade of Rev. 5:9, "Worthy are thou...".
3. They disappoint. Heroes often fail. Even Babe Ruth sometimes stuck out with the bases loaded! The greatest pitchers lose games! But Jesus does not disappoint. Jesus never fails!

Bobby Dockery, writer