It’s a blessing to learn some difficult lessons early in life.  That can save you much grief and pain later on.

I reflected on that when reading the rants of a friend on social media.  His issue was that for many years he had followed the teachings of a certain church leader.  I think it would be fair to say that he was a disciple of this particular church leader.  He devoured the writings of this man, listened to nearly every podcast from him, quoted him often and defended him against all criticism.  But this leader had been stood down after some questionable behaviour came to light.  My social media contact now wanted to obliterate from the planet anything produced by this man.  Nobody should now be allowed to read his books or listen to his podcasts.

That led me to think back to my late teens and early adulthood.  There was a church youth-leader whom I greatly admired.  I attended his talks and read the articles he wrote.  I clung to his words and quoted his ideas.  But then a few years later this man did something I considered hypocritical and inappropriate for a Christian leader.  The fact is that I had discovered that my hero had feet of clay.

So what was the lesson that I learnt early in life?  This: that it is dangerous to hero-worship another human being.  That is always going to lead to disappointment.  This early experience was valuable for learning this important distinction: it is one thing to appreciate someone’s abilities and gifts as a leader or teacher; it’s quite another thing to hero-worship such a person and stake your future on them.

Of course I should have known this all along from the Bible.  Psalm 118:9 reads: “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.”  Or there is Psalm 146:3: “Do not put your trust in princes, in mere mortals who cannot save.”  There’s some important way in which this principle should apply in daily life.  Let me mention two applications.

First, it's disappointing how often I meet people who no longer attend church because they’ve had a falling out with a Christian leader, such as a pastor, an elder or a priest.  Their issue is not with God.  They still believe in the saving work of Jesus on the cross.  Their issue is with the church – and more often than not, with one particular representative of the church.  I totally understand their feeling of having been let down by someone in leadership – in some instances, even a feeling of betrayal.  God has given leaders in the church to be a blessing to His people and it’s disappointing (to say the least) when leaders fail.  However the church is first of all the Lord’s church and not the church of any pastor, elder or priest.  So such disappointed folk really need to read Psalm 118:9 again – and then read it like this: “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in the princes of the church.”

A second way in which we need to apply this warning against hero-worship is in the area of politics.  That’s particularly important at a time when we are again facing a federal election.  In politics too, hero worship is rife and every candidate is trying to establish a following – even sometimes by demonising their political opponents.  But disappointment in political leaders is rife too when political promises are not kept or deliberately broken.  That can lead to disillusioned electors who come to the point where they are totally fed up with politicians.  This happens on all sides of politics.  In the weeks leading up to an election just about every candidate gives the impression that they (and they alone) have the political answer that can save Australia.  So how do we minimise the fallout of political disillusionment?  Again, those Psalm verses have the answer.  It’s one thing to recognise that God gives good political leaders to a nation to bless that nation, it’s another thing to hero-worship such leaders and to idolise them.  We must not expect from our political leaders what we should only expect from God.  The words of Psalm 146:3 are pertinent: “Do not put your trust in princes, in mere mortals who cannot save.”

John Westendorp