A Humble Hero Uses Gifts for God’s Glory

Our kids love superheroes—but we don’t outgrow our need for heroes as adults. We might not have the same heroes as our kids, but we all have people we look up to. Who are your heroes? What attributes make them stand out to you?

See if these three things don’t describe your heroes:

They use what they have been given in an extraordinary way for the benefit of others
Their efforts take courage and faith
They don’t seek attention or glory for themselves

We tend not to hold people in high regard who use their gifts solely for themselves or seek praise for themselves. Even fictional characters we admire—heroes like Superman or Ironman—don’t use their strength and might to score goals to improve their own life.

This month, we are teaching the boys about being a Humble Hero. A Humble Hero uses the gifts they have been given by God for others. This is what it means to give glory to God. The Bible says it this way.

“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” 1 Peter 4:10

To use our gifts to glorify God in a heroic way, we must first understand humility. The New York Times best-selling author Tim Keller has a short but powerful book on humility called The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness. In that book, he says, “The thing we would remember from meeting a truly gospel-humble person is how much they seemed to be totally interested in us. Because the essence of gospel-humility is not thinking more of myself or thinking less of myself, it is thinking of myself less.” That’s it: Humility is thinking of ourselves less. Once we get our ego out of the way, we are free to clearly see our gifts and the needs of others.

Here are three ways to help your kids be Humble Heroes:

1. Help Them Know Their Gifts

Your children have incredible gifts. Remind them that they are made in the image of God, and their individual gifts include knowledge, talents, temperaments, affections, and faith. Their gifts also include their experiences and circumstances (whether positive or challenging). Also, don’t let them forget that you and the other people in your household are gifts from God. Help them start a list of the gifts God has given them.

2. Help Them Know The Source Of The Gifts

The most important thing about our children’s gifts is the Giver. God freely gives us all things so that we will know him better. Giving credit to God for our gifts is one of the most basic ways we honor and worship him. The opposite is also true: When we fail to acknowledge God for what he has given us, we dishonor him. The Bible puts it in this way. “What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7)

God is so good to us. He always goes before us and prepares a way (Deuteronomy 31:8). He is sovereign over all of our circumstances. Everything on earth is God’s (Psalm 24:1), and all things are created and find their purpose in Christ (Colossians 1:16). Above all, he gives us his Son Jesus that we might live forever. “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). Help your child trace each of their gifts above back to God, the giver of “every good and perfect gift” (James 1:17).

3. Encourage Them To Use Their Gifts For Others

Help your children see the needs of the world around them. We all have family members, friends, and neighbors in need. Ask them to tell you about a sibling or friend who is hurting. Discuss the world and current events with them. Read or watch the local news together. Use Operation World (online or with the book to see the needs of countries all over the world. Have them make a list of needs they can think of around them. Once they do that, have them match the list of their gifts with the needs of others. Pray with them about how they might act on this list.

Think about doing the same exercise yourself. Pray and trust God to lead you and your family to use your gifts for his glory.

Resources

Monthly Virtue Calendar - The Humble Hero Elementary - October 2019
Monthly Virtue Calendar - The Humble Hero Early Childhood - October 2019
The Freedom Of Self Forgetfulness Book
Operation World Book
Operation World Website

Upcoming Events

7 Virtues of Manhood Breakfast - The Pacesetter

For Grades: 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade

This year we want to give boys a chance to learn more about what it means to be a man while spending time with an adult that is teaching them about manhood. So, we are hosting a monthly breakfast focusing on the 7 Virtues of Manhood at school.

Our 7 Virtues of Manhood Breakfasts are for elementary grade boys (1-6) and their adult hosts.

Because of the nature of this breakfast, each boy must have an adult host in order to attend. If one adult is going to be hosting multiple boys, please enter them as part of the group registration, even if that person has already registered with another boy. For families with special circumstances, please reach out to me and one of the school based mentors will host your son, or we can discuss another option.

Meal Options

Breakfast: $5 for Chick-Fil-A Chicken Minis and Coffee, Orange Juice, or Milk

Event Properties

Event Date	Friday, January 10 2020 7:00 am
Event End Date	Friday, January 10 2020 7:55 am
Cut off date	Thursday, January 9 2020 3:00 pm
Location	Fellowship Hall at Presbyterian Day School

Agendas

7:00am	Breakfast with Boys in Fellowship Hall You will sit with groups from your son’s grade as much as possible.
7:15am	Hear what the virtue means from a 6th grade boy
	Learn the virtue in more detail through a 7 minute lesson from one of our leaders
	Spend the majority of the time working around the table with age appropriate questions and activities
7:55am	Breakfast Ends
8:00am	Boys Dismissed to Chapel Adult hosts are welcome to join us for chapel from 8:00-8:30 in the sanctuary or depart after breakfast.

Building Boys, Making Men

Last modified on Tuesday, 15 October 2019

Howard Graham

Howard Graham is the Chaplain at PDS and is the Executive Director of the Building Boys, Making Men program. He is married to Kimberley and they have a girl and three boys. He can be reached at hgraham@pdsmemphis.org

Building Boys, Making Men is a PDS-created program designed to give boys a godly vision and definition of manhood. We believe that boys should be intentionally taught about authentic manhood and have a biblical framework for making wise and edifying choices during their teenage years and beyond. The definition of manhood we teach our boys: