Blog » “Empty Heroes”

Monday, June 3, 2013   Jeff Lampl

 

 “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”           I Corinthians 13:1-3 (ESV) 
Harvard has conducted a study on human well being and happiness which has lasted now more than 72 years! When the current director of the study was asked what he had learned from pouring over the data on the 268 men in this study, he gave an amazingly succinct answer with no complexity to it, “the only thing that really matters in life are your relationships to other people” 

So there it is. And it’s not new info. The Apostle Paul wrote this 2,000 years ago. He got it from God.  

You may be brilliant, able to explain the greatest of mysteries, be a CEO millionaire, be a professional superhero athlete, be a dad who’s busy making money and climbing the corporate ladder earning accolades and hefty raises, but if you do not have loving interactive, quantity and quality together time in vibrant, caring relationship with others, especially family, you are nothing. Here’s the formula.   H – L = 0.   Hero minus Love = Zero. 

Lord, forgive me for choosing achievement, money, comfort, accolades, success, material wealth, Kudos from my boss, prestige above quantitative, interactive, together time with others who need me and whom I need, whether I feel that need or not. Lord, I need you,  I need others and others need me, not my money, but me. Lord, today I will be there for and with my spouse and children. But also, Lord, I’m paying attention, paying attention to those promptings from you which say, “stop, see that person over there, go to her, engage and listen. She needs you".     Amen