Friday, January 18 2008

Courage: Live It

2 Tim. 1:7 – ‘God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power.’

Courage is one thing you need if you want to get God’s work done. That’s what I said when I spoke in a church service in Jamaica. I told the people that according to 2 Tim. 1:7, God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power.

A couple of days later, I stood 35 feet above the water on the edge of the Caribbean Sea. Should I jump off the precipice into the water below? The teenagers who were with me said, ‘Yes!’ Most of them had already done so. One told me, ‘If you don’t jump, you can’t preach about courage again!’ I knew that sometimes the courageous thing is not to go along with the crowd. But this time, I jumped.

Courage makes a good theory, but sometimes practicing it takes help. As Christians, there are many opportunities to step out of our comfort zone to serve God. When we don’t have courage, we need to be reminded of God’s promise in 2 Timothy, and we need others’ encouragement to take the leap. And perhaps you need someone to tell you.

Be courageous for Jesus. Sometimes it takes just that first step of courage to serve our majestic God. (DB)