Editors’ Note: This article is part of the Patheos Public Square on Heroes of 2014. Read other perspectives here.

Heroes.

We all have them.

What makes a hero? Courage, grit, boldness, an unquenchable spirit, and a willingness to stand alone for truth and justice are among some of the ways heroes are described.

Some heroes are immensely personal –parents, dear friends, teachers, coaches, bosses; while other heroes are adored for their deeds that have had a broader impact on humanity.

2014 was no stranger to drama on the world’s stage. The rise of ISIS, conflicts between various countries, multiple shootings in our own nation, nasty political battles, and a host of other events all culminated to create one drama filled year. Every time I turned on the news, my eyes were met with a new travesty, my ears were greeted with more bad news. All of this created a situation for anxiety to swell and my heart to be overwhelmed. While I knew that, as a Christian, my ultimate hope was in Christ, and that He will have the final victory in history, the fact is that I still felt the weight of a broken world on my shoulders. No one can argue that this world is broken, and things aren’t how they were originally created.

Destruction, injustice, hurt, bitterness, anger…these are all adjectives that describe the world in which we live. So often, we focus on the negative and difficult situations, yet….

Our hearts long for more.

More kindness, more hope, more redemption, more love, more joy.

I believe one of the reasons we adore, celebrate and sometimes idolize heroes is because a hero ignites us to be more.

A hero inspires.

A hero displays hope.

A hero casts vision.

A hero walks through trials.

Most of the time, the people we label as our heroes point us towards to things that are close to God’s heart. Justice, love, goodness, hope, strength, etc. Even non-Christians can recognize that people who seek the flourishing and thriving of others is a good thing to be pursued and desired.

Many people quickly floated to the top of my list as I pondered the greatest heroes of 2014. People like Malala Yousafzai, a young girl who stood up to the Taliban for the right of girls to be educated and Louis Zamperini, a courageous prisoner of war survivor of WWII, an Olympic runner, and a motivational speaker, and many others. Hundreds of names could have made their way onto my list of “heroes”.

I propose a different kind of hero.

The greatest heroes are those diligently committed to following Christ, no matter the cost.

Christians aren’t your “typical” hero. They usually aren’t the first people to pop into your mind when you hear the term Most Christians will never have a movie made about their lives, they’ll never be interviewed on 60 minutes, they’ll never publish a memoir, and their names and faces will never be known on a larger scale.

The greatest measure of a man, woman and certainly a hero is what one is willing to live and die for. Christians throughout the ages lively boldly and die courageously for another’s name and glory. The fame of their Father.

“All heroes are shadows of Christ” – John Piper

A Christian should strive to be an accurate representation of God to a lost and broken world.

A Christian should seek justice, love and mercy for all. (Micah 6:8)

A Christian should point to the Greatest Hero to have ever lived – Christ.

So, to the mother who’s faithfully raising her children, to the Father who’s fighting to be a Godly leader, to the student who’s witnessing on a dark and hate-filled campus, to each and every person fighting sin and striving to follow Christ...