Top Three Favorite Old Testament Characters, Excluding God (In No Particular Order)
1. Benaiah. He chased a lion into a pit on a snowy day. He CHASED a LION, INTO a PIT on a SNOWY day. I can’t imagine they get many snowy days in the Middle East, thousands of years ago. But on that fateful day, David’s mighty man did not let that snow deter him. Instead, he scared a LION so badly that it ran away from him and tried to hide down in a pit, and Benaiah killed it. He did other brave things: he killed an Egyptian; he led David’s bodyguard; and he is known as a “doer of great deeds.” What a way to be remembered. Interesting to note, nothing is said of his relationship with the Lord; it will be interesting to see if this valiant man is in heaven.
2. Boaz. Oh my gosh, I love Boaz. He makes me swoon. Kinsman Redeemer. Protector. Man of Honor and his Word. Ruth comes to him and he falls in love… but goes about winning her heart the same way. From an outside perspective, Ruth’s mother-in-law, Naomi, totally has a hand in it, too… but Boaz remains a strong man. One of my favorite verses from him? Ruth 3:10-11 “And he said, “May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter. You have made this last kindness greater than the first in that you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich. And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you ask, for all my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy woman.” Boaz, as much as he loved and respected Ruth, was BLOWN AWAY by the fact that she loved him too. She chose him just as much as he chose her. It is a great picture of our relationship with Christ as Kinsman Redeemer. He chose to redeem us… but we have to make that choice to be redeemed, to choose Him instead of one who is more “attractive” or “desirable.” In fact, Christ has all we need.
3. Hosea. Redeeming Love is one of my all-time favorite books, but the Bible story is just as good. He just… he just keeps loving his wife, buying her back from prostitution and slavery to the world over and over and over again. He doesn’t give up on her. He woos her and wins her heart as many times as he has to before she accepts his love and returns it. Hosea 2 details the heart-wrenching story of how she forsakes her husband in pursuit of other lovers… then Hosea replies in verse 8, “And she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, who lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.” Hello!! I give you everything you need! Where are you going?! I feel like so often, God is saying that same thing to me as I pursue other lovers, be they recognition, or a certain goal weight, or whatever. Those things are not God and they cannot fill His place in my life.
Top Three Favorite New Testament Characters, Excluding Jesus (In No Particular Order)
1. Peter. I’ve been reading through 1 Peter for weeks, it seems, and I still can’t move past 1 Peter 5:2-3 “Care for God’s flock with all the diligence of a shepherd. Not because you have to, but because you want to please God. Not calculating what you can get out of it, but acting spontaneously. Not bossily telling others what to do, but showing them the way.” Whoa. Challenge upon challenge for me lately. And I love how Peter’s life was changed. He denied Christ three times, but after Jesus met with him on the beach, Peter showed how transformative Christ’s love is and he helped lead the New Testament Church. He was, indeed, the rock.
2. Mary! Oh Mary. Not Jesus’ Mom (though she’s great, too), but Mary from Martha and Mary and Lazarus. She’s the one who poured perfume on Jesus’ feet then wiped His feet with her hair. I seriously have so much I could say about her… about the sacrifice and the humiliation and the pure, unadulterated worship… about how, though the perfume was intended for Jesus’ burial, it’s like she couldn’t wait that long! She had to anoint Him then. Spontaneously. She gave her best – a year’s wages - $40,000 in my life, once I sign a teaching contract. She poured that out in less than a minute’s time, I bet, onto the dirtiest part of a human: the feet. And she wiped it with the most physically attractive part of herself: her hair. I can’t get over it. Devotion. What worship.
3. Luke. The silent partner, the doctor, the author. He knew what it was to be in the wings, to not have center stage, but to be a supporting role in the work God does through someone else. And not once in the book of Acts do we hear Luke saying, “I had an awful day!” or “I stubbed my toe again!” or “I was in prison too, you know…” or “I lead 400 people to Christ that same day!” Luke is okay with Paul being in the spotlight. And maybe that’s because Luke recognized the role God had given him – Luke’s job was to write. To record history as it was made. (Who knows – maybe Doctors had better handwriting back then.) And he did his job faithfully. He was able to live out Peter’s challenge in 1 Peter 5:2-3, the one I’m struggling with so much. Faithful to the end, that Luke. What a guy.
