Ordinary Heroes of the Faith - Pt 2

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. (Colossians 3:23-24 ESV). Some of the people we will look at in the next few days will not be familiar names. While they have not been lifted to superhero status with all the acclaim and accolade afforded to some, they certainly played their role in life with courage, consistency, and faith. Henrietta Lacks is the first person I’ve chosen to examine in our little study. She was an African-American mother of five who migrated from the tobacco farms of Virginia to the poorest neighborhoods of Baltimore, and died at the tragic age of 31 from cervical cancer. She was a simple, hard-working woman who never realized she’d be the donor of cells that would create the HeLa cell line. Perhaps that means nothing to you. It is a bit obscure to all but those who have been familiarized with various forms of medical research. The HeLa is a cell line that didn’t die after a few cell divisions, making possible some of the most important discoveries in modern medicine. While she didn’t know the full repercussion of her donation of tissue at her death, she did know that it seemed a good thing to do. Perhaps it could help someone in the future. Certainly it seemed to be a reasonable request from the doctors. Well, the HeLa cell became a crucial discovery in everything from the first polio vaccine to cancer and AIDS research. To date, scientists have grown more than 20 tons of HeLa cells. In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, the author, Rebecca Skloot tells us of these far-reaching accomplishments through the eyes of Henrietta Lacks’ daughter, Deborah. She didn’t know her mother, but always knew she wanted to be a scientist. It is through her study of science that she discovers the contribution of her mother. Not very spectacular, was it? She just gave something that was of no use to her with no knowledge of what it would do. She didn’t set out to change the course of medical research. She merely did what she felt was right and honorable. But, isn’t that precisely what God asks us to do? Countless people have been cured or helped with devastating diseases because she was simply doing what seemed good and true. I hope you are encouraged. You may be called on to do some simple task that really requires very little thought or deliberation on your part. You simply know it to be true. It follows the path of Scripture. Do it! Do it without expectation and make it your offering to the Lord. It may be answering the phone at work for the umpteenth time with a pleasant voice not knowing that on that umpteenth time, the other person just needed a soft voice of kindness and gentleness. It may be something much more complicated. Whatever it is, do it to the Lord heartily!