Living vicariously through Pope Francis, Time Magazine Person of the Year

Whether Pope Francis is kissing a disfigured man with boils, washing the feet of a young muslim woman, driving his own car while refusing to live in the papal apartment, or simply denouncing excessive consumerism in typical “counter culture” fashion, he has been doing some noteworthy things since assuming the papacy earlier this year. Even from an evangelical perspective, there are a lot of positive aspects to be gleaned from the change in tone at The Vatican.

However, as cheerleaders of The Pope have seemingly come out of the woodwork this year, it has not been to share how Jesus is working in their lives or how their personal Christian walk is going. On the contrary, most often it has been to rave about all the great things Pope Francis is doing.

Now, in a move that further solidifies the media’s love affair with him, TIME Magazine has ‘crowned’ Pope Francis 2013’s Person of the Year.

Fellow Christian, let’s rejoice together in the humility and good deeds of Pope Francis, but also strive to live out that same humility in our lives. Let us by God’s saving grace be worthy ambassadors of Christ here on earth, a role available to all Christians — not just one man. Let’s try to live out our faith all 7 days of the week, in all areas of our life.

In all sincerity, the act of living vicariously through a role model is not limited to followers of Pope Francis. Catholics, Protestants, and Evangelicals of all streams tend to hold the spiritual leaders and founders of their particular denomination or tribe, both living and from ages past, on a pedestal. We tend to share their quotes and read from their books more than we share and read from God’s Word.

Let us all pray we can, by the grace of God, only give glory to one man — Jesus Christ.

Christians from all stripes must have an active faith, lest it be dead. We must be doers of the word, not just hearers, lest we deceive ourselves. Pope Francis’ example of living a life honoring to Jesus is one to follow, not just something to which to pay lip-service.