We continue our
“faith-based words” study with "Courage"...
In these posts, I explore
words that people of faith use every day. Why? Because certain words can take on
entirely new meanings for us as our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ increases. I
am still very encouraged by the number of positive emails I continue to receive
in response to these posts! (If you missed some earlier "faith-based words" posts, check them
out here.)A check of our secular
dictionary defines it as bravery, guts and nerve. The same dictionary lists its
opposites as fear, timidity, weakness and faint-heartedness. In “the world”, the
definition of courage has become associated with cinema action-heroes who save
the day and sports stars who play with injuries. Those action heroes are not
real, they’re fictional… not much courage is required when the other actor
agrees to lose or get beat up. As for the sports stars, I’d also play that way
for millions of dollars per year in salary!
Real courage involves us
doing the right thing regardless of the consequences. But where does such
courage come from? True courage comes from faith in God. To better explain this,
let’s look at one of the most misunderstood accounts in the Bible in 1 Samuel
17… that of David and Goliath.
Over three thousand years ago, a huge man
named Goliath of Gath had taunted the army of Israel and its God for forty days.
That was until a courageous shepherd boy named David stepped up and used a
simple slingshot and one well-placed stone to kill Goliath. It’s tempting to
look at David’s defeat of Goliath as a story of personal courage in the face of
overwhelming odds. But that is not at all what this story is about. Rather it’s
about something else… the source of that courage.
Before looking at where
David’s courage came from, we need to ask why Saul and his huge army did not
have the courage to face Goliath. Could it have been because they were depending
on faith in themselves and their weapons rather than their faith in God? What
made David different? It was the source of his courage… his confidence in God’s
promises and God’s power to fulfill them. David was not self-confident… he was
confident in God.
Christian courage is the willingness to say or do the
right thing regardless of the earthly cost. The cost may be physical as in
warfare or the pain may be mental, stemming from confrontation, persecution or
material loss. True faith-based courage comes from amplifying God instead of
self. Such courage comes only from the Holy Spirit, knowing that the One who is
with us is greater than the enemy. Consider these verses:
Acts
4:31
“They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak
the word of God with boldness”.
Isaiah 41:10
“So do
not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will
strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right
hand.”
2 Chronicles 32:7–8
“Be strong and courageous…
for the one with us is greater than the one with him. With him is only an arm of
flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our
battles”.
If you’ve been discouraged lately, stop listening to Satan’s
lies. Discouragement comes from fear and unbelief. It comes when we listen to
the father of lies about what God will or will not do for us as Christians. True
courage comes from trusting God. It cannot be somehow summoned from inside of
ourselves. It comes from believing God’s promises regardless of what the
circumstances look like. Courage comes from faith… consider
this:
1 John 4:4
“Little children, you are from God
and have overcome them, for He who is in you is greater than he who is in the
world.”
John 16:33
“I have said these things to you,
that in me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But take
heart; I have overcome the world.”
If we depend only on ourselves, true
courage will elude us. When we depend on God and His promises, we can have the
type of courage that comes only from Him and surpasses all
understanding!
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