I was listening to this guy talking about what makes a good story and at one part he was talking about the hero, or protaganist, and how to make him a person that people care about, so that when the protaganist "wins" we are happy for him or her.
He used the example of Rocky and how the first 40 minutes of the newest Rocky movie basically exists to show us what a good guy Rocky is. Why? So that when he wins the fight in the end, we care about it.
Anyhow, one of the things he said hit me... he said that Heros can have difficulties... they can be alcoholic, they can come from broken families, they can have a disability, whatever... but there is one thing that a hero cannot do.
That one thing is this. He cannot think that he he better than everyone else. If he does, at that point... he becomes the villian.
Thats kind of a scary thought, isn't it? I mean, we all want to be the hero, but at the same time, we have this ingraned human thing inside of us that makes us want to be better than others, don't we?
The bible says this in Phillipians 2:3 "Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves." That's how to be a hero. I know that most of us think that we are that guy. We want to think we are that guy. Unfortunately, I think that a lot of us are not that guy most of the time.
The Message says it this way: "If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand."
What if we could really do that?
He used the example of Rocky and how the first 40 minutes of the newest Rocky movie basically exists to show us what a good guy Rocky is. Why? So that when he wins the fight in the end, we care about it.
Anyhow, one of the things he said hit me... he said that Heros can have difficulties... they can be alcoholic, they can come from broken families, they can have a disability, whatever... but there is one thing that a hero cannot do.
That one thing is this. He cannot think that he he better than everyone else. If he does, at that point... he becomes the villian.
Thats kind of a scary thought, isn't it? I mean, we all want to be the hero, but at the same time, we have this ingraned human thing inside of us that makes us want to be better than others, don't we?
The bible says this in Phillipians 2:3 "Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves." That's how to be a hero. I know that most of us think that we are that guy. We want to think we are that guy. Unfortunately, I think that a lot of us are not that guy most of the time.
The Message says it this way: "If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand."
What if we could really do that?
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