Have you ever noticed in the book of Revelation – the Bible's final
1. WHY EVERY CHRISTIAN NEEDS COURAGE
Have you ever noticed in the book of Revelation – the Bible's final summary book – that the "cowardly" top the list of the unrepentant who will not be given eternal life (Revelation 21:8)? Considering that Revelation's "Hall of Shame" list includes murderers, idolators, and others guilty of the most serious sins, the fact that cowardice – the opposite of courage – is mentioned first should give us pause.
The Bible praises courage frequently and contains many stories of courage in action. Some of these stories, such as the account of the young David fighting the giant Goliath, come quickly to mind. But there are dozens more examples throughout the pages of Scripture where individuals stepped forward and fought against huge odds or persisted in difficult situations – often alone and without the support of others. There are individual lessons we should not miss in these stories, but they all show courage to be a hallmark of those who truly follow God. There are numerous reasons why we must have courage if we are to please God. In this chapter we will look at some of those reasons in order to see why courage is so important for the Christian.
Courage Is Commanded First, we must understand that to have courage is not just a biblical suggestion; it is a biblical command. We may be familiar with some of the many inspiring Old Testament verses such as "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified … for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you" (Deuteronomy 31:6). We may also be aware of the multiple times God commanded leaders such as Joshua to be courageous (Joshua 1:6, 7, 9, etc.) – but we don't always notice examples in the New Testament that apply directly to us today.
If we look carefully, we find Jesus not only commanded courage of his disciples when they feared: "Jesus immediately said to them: 'Take courage!'" (Matthew 14:27 and see also Mark 6:50), but we also find him reminding his servants to have courage relative to the work he gave them to do: "The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, 'Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome'" (Acts 23:11).
The apostle Paul clearly obeyed that command to take courage (Philippians 1:20; etc.) and passed the instruction along to the Christians he taught: "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong" (1 Corinthians 16:13). There is no question that courage is commanded of the followers of Christ as much as it was of God's servants in Old Testament times.
Courage Is Change-Producing One of the big reasons that we are urged to have courage in our personal lives and in doing the work we are given to do is that courage is so often needed to confront and withstand evil and wrongdoing – to resist what is wrong both in our own lives and in society around us.
This is not to say, of course, that Christians are called to be caped crusaders who roam around courageously fighting evil at every turn – but that courage is so often needed to resist evil and wrongdoing when it does appear in ourselves and in others. Sometimes it takes courage to simply admit our own problems and failings, and often it takes courage to overcome the desire to not "rock the boat" by taking on problems around us that we could do something about – especially when we feel we are alone in carrying on the fight. Without courage there is always the danger that we will not change as we need to do so, or fight battles that need to be fought.
You have probably heard the so-called Serenity Prayer: "Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." While this is true to a point, the Christian life to which we are called is full of admonitions such as "fight," "defend," "seek," and "resist" that require courage as well as work. Courage is often needed in order not to consider a problem as something we "cannot change."
There are plenty of biblical examples of this natural human tendency to run away from things that require change – one need only think of the apostle Peter who, when he was called by Jesus exclaimed "Oh, Lord, please leave me – I'm too much of a sinner to be around you" to which Jesus replied, "Don't be afraid" (Luke 5:8, 10 NLT). Jesus' reply was instructive for all of us because he understood that we are often held back by our fear and need courage both to change and to accept God's calling when it is given to us.
Courage Is Contagious It also helps us to understand the importance of courage when we realize that there is not a single instance among the dozens of accounts of physical and spiritual bravery found in the Bible where one person's courage did not have an emboldening effect on others.
We find many Old Testament examples of this – such as the story of King Saul's son Jonathan demonstrating courage that inspired the young man's armor bearer to join him in a daring military raid against heavy odds (1 Samuel 14:1-13). Numerous other examples in the Hebrew Scriptures show people being inspired by a courageous action. Such was the case with the disheartened Israelites after David slew Goliath (1 Samuel 17:52). Conversely, when a leader loses courage, so – in a startling domino effect – do the people, as was the case when Saul's son IshBosheth became fearful (2 Samuel 4:1).
There are also a good number of fascinating examples of the contagious nature of courage in the New Testament. Take the case of Joseph of Arimathea who bravely asked Pilate for the body of Jesus in order to give him a proper burial. The Gospel of Mark tells us that "Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus" (Mark 15:43 ESV).
This was no small act of bravery, as Jesus had just been executed as a rebel instigating sedition against the Roman Empire – and Joseph was no natural hero. John's Gospel tells us: "… Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away" (John 19:38).
But Joseph's act of courage had immediate ripple effects. John's Gospel also tells us that "He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds [to embalm the body of Jesus]" (John 19:39). When Joseph "took courage," he inspired Nicodemus – who had been too afraid of the Jews to talk with Jesus except under the cover of darkness – to likewise act with courage.
Biblical examples like these show that courage always has an effect – even when others are afraid to act until they see the success of someone who does demonstrate courageous behavior. Perhaps more than any other quality we may demonstrate, courage is contagious!
Courage Is Confirming Not only is courage contagious when it is demonstrated, but also by acting courageously – even if we do not feel courageous – we confirm our faith to God, to others, and even to ourselves.
Acts of courage can be a powerful demonstration of faith that influences others in ways that we may not even guess at the time. The book of Acts tells us specifically that the Jewish priestly authorities questioned the apostles Peter and John in a threatening manner regarding their teaching, but: "When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus" (Acts 4:13). It was the courage of the two apostles, not their learning or eloquence, that was a witness to the Jewish priests and religious leaders. It is doubtless not a coincidence that shortly after that we are told: "So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith" (Acts 6:7). Acting with courage even helps confirm our own dedication to God and his calling. We need faith to have courage and courage to express our faith. The apostle Paul showed this when he wrote: "I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death" (Philippians 1:20). Courageous living demonstrates our faith in right and proper ways. Put simply, we need courage in our Christian lives because courage is faith in action. Our courage and our trust in God work hand in hand.
So there are many reasons why every Christian needs courage. But having courage is not a simple decision one makes or a quality that one develops and then easily applies to any given situation. As we will see in the following chapters, it is possible to be courageous in one area yet virtually without courage in another. The same person who is fearless on the battlefield may be afraid to speak or act in public (1 Samuel 10:17-24). In the chapters of this book we will explore the different kinds of courage and we will see how, with God's help, we can develop them all.