Top 5 Characters

We just finished a week of VBS and this year the program was super heroes. We didn't actually have any real super heroes, although
all the kids got to go home tonight with their own capes. Is that cool or what?

What we did have was a host of Bible heroes. Their stories were told several times throughout each night and I gotta tell you, those kids knew their stories by the time they left! It was a lot of fun to hear them during the late skit answer all the questions of the MC in a chorus.

I also delighted in the laughter during the Bible skits. See I got to write the scripts and I wanted to put the story across, but also make it engaging. After all, the audience was 4- to 14-year-olds. Quite a stretch! So hearing the laughter and seeing them animated meant so much to me!



Anyway, the top 5 characters of the Bible (These aren't just because we visited them this week. I've actually seen tons of VBS weeks that highlight these folks.)

#5 Joshua - The theme for Joshua's night was obedience. I think faith could have been another great topic to highlight with his story. After all, he was one of only two spies that believed the Israelites should follow God's leading and head on into the Promised Land despite the giants that lived there. And I have a question about Joshua: If he was so strong and courageous all on his own, why did God have to tell him so many times to be strong and very courageous?

I know it could've been because all the struggles he endured would require some supernatural courage, but I have a theory (based on the character displayed by Gideon and how God spoke to him) that maybe he wasn't so naturally gifted in those areas. Seems like God often uses the opposites of what He actually needs to show His awesome power.

#4 Esther - Courage was Esther's theme. What an amazing story! At first, she sure doesn't show much in the way of courage. She argues with her Uncle Mordecai much like Moses argued with God. "I can't do that" for whatever reason. But she conceded to follow her uncle's instructions and the Lord's leading. And God faithfully blessed her effort, saving her people from sure annihilation.

I think it's interesting to note that God isn't mentioned one time in the book of Esther, and yet He weaves His way throughout the entire story. It's so easy to see His divine purpose.

#3 Joseph - His theme was forgiveness. Well, yeah! Joseph has to be one of my favorite people from Bible times. Like an ancient King Midas, everything he set his hand to prospered, only he gave all the glory to God. I also think it's interesting that of all the people the Bible tells us about, Joseph alone (besides Jesus) has no faults listed against him. Verwy Interwesting!

And I love his message at the end of his story, that what his brothers meant for evil God meant for good. He could step out of his own personal injury, his feelings of betrayal and abandonment. He viewed with Spirit eyes the big picture that God was creating in order to save his whole family, the people God had chosen.

#2 David - The theme for David was trust. This one was a bit of a stretch to me. I could have easily switched him out with Esther. His battle with Goliath did take courage, but his trust in the Lord became much more evident than that of Esther's. After all, Esther's book doesn't mention God, remember?

Trusting the Lord, he faced the giant. Like Esther, he thought there was a pretty good chance that he would die. Only he wasn't fighting to save his people. He fought to defend the name of the God he served! Woohoo! I'll get the pompoms!

#1 Jesus - Well, of course! The thread of love wove its way through every part of Jesus' life. In the script we used, it depicted His servant attitude while washing His disciple's feet. What an amazing picture of the ultimate of gifts. The God of the universe cleaning the grunge from the road off of His student's feet. The job that the lowliest house servant was usually stuck with, done by the Master Himself.

"Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." Philippians 2:5-8

Now I know there are other men and women of the Bible who would certainly fall into the category of hero. Some of my personal favorites are Deborah, Abigail, and Gideon.

Who is your favorite hero of the Bible? What makes them great?