Be Brave

Another week of bad news has gone by, leaving Americans uneasy and uncertain about the future.  Despite the $700 billion bailout bill that was passed through Congress, the economy is not picking up much steam.  The Presidential debates force us out of the contented states of our daily lives into national issues, and as we focus on these concerns, we are reminded that there are gloomy prospects on the horizon in addition to our financial woes: great social divides, the heartless slaughter of the unborn, homosexuality’s threat to the traditional family, terrorists who want to kill us, the possibility of more wars and attacks on American soil.

In times like these, America needs citizens who are brave.  William Barclay writes about an old family from central Scotland, the Buchanans, who had the motto Audaces iuvo, “I help the brave.”  This could be reworded in the popular proverb, “Fortune favors the brave.”  There is no doubt that the brave are rare, but good things abound wherever they can be found.

America will endure the challenges facing her because, as the national anthem asserts, she is the “land of the free and the home of the brave.”  Time has proven this to be a nation that rises to the occasion and takes courage in the face of grave dangers.

The church needs brave men and women to be strong.  The temporal threats facing America pale by comparison to the spiritual foes assailing the kingdom of God.  Paul writes,

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Eph. 6:11-12).

A list like that can be pretty intimidating.  The church is no place for the faint of heart.

From Paul’s letters to Timothy we can see that Timothy was young and inexperienced.  He suffered from frequent physical ailments (1 Tim. 5:23).  With Titus, he was tempted to allow his youthfulness to become an obstacle and not assert his authority as a preacher of the gospel (1 Tim. 4:12; Titus 2:15).  It was crucial for him to overcome his fears, so Paul wrote, “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Tim. 1:7).

The spirit of Christianity is not timidity.  It is power, love, and discipline.  Be brave!