The relationship between love and courage is beautifully illustrated in the story of the prodigal son. The younger son needed courage to undertake the long walk home; the father shows courage by choosing to love his son even after he was betrayed. Jesus calls us to be courageous people, so that we will live fully…
Fortitude comes when we draw our strength from God rather than our limited reservoir. When we learn to tap into God’s power, courage becomes Christian fortitude, the strength to endure.
Hope is important in developing and maintaining courage. Hope can be defined as “the assurance that God is faithful, and the purposes God has called you to undertake will be completed…Hope is courage that refuses to doubt God’s goodness even when a task is not being accomplished in the way you desired.”
Candor is spoken courage. Unfortunately, daily interactions are often marked with rude, unkind, and hurtful speech. Jesus teaches us important lessons in his conversation with Simon the Pharisee: begin with kindness and look for points of agreement.
A conviction of courage fuels action! Jesus heals on the Sabbath to demonstrate his conviction. We need to stop periodically to remember the source of our convictions and seek time with God to renew a kingdom perspective where “discouragement, difficulty, and dilemma are all removed from view.”
Courage gains strength when a person becomes clear about what God is asking her or him to accomplish. What is your purpose? Rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish your mission.
Paul writes these words to Philemon, a “dear friend and co-worker,” about Philemon’s runaway slave, Onesimus. In what ways are we being like Philemon—ignoring social change we could help enact? In what ways could we be like Paul, bending, step-by-step, the social arc of our society toward equality and justice for all? In what ways…
As the only Philippian convert named in Acts, Lydia was quite possibly the leader and patron of the Philippian church. She used her wealth to establish the community, she risked her reputation as a businesswoman to house foreigners released from prison, she sanctified her conversion with acts of radical hospitality.
The eunuch moves from questioning to a sense of awe, excitement, wonder, and maybe even a bit certainty. “Look there is water! What is to keep me from being baptized?” (Acts 8:37). The answer is nothing—not his status, not his questioning, not even his position in society as a sexual minority.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego exemplified courage as they walked with the presence of God among the flames. Their trust in God overcame the human tendency to fear.