What, would you say, is the definition of the word “courage?”  The absence of fear?  A high degree of machismo?  How about the word “faith?”  What, would you say, defines faith?  A lack of doubt?  Not having the need to question?  From my perspective, courage and faith are synonyms for each other.  Being courageous necessitates having faith that, no matter what may happen in the present moment, the conclusion will inevitably be a positive outcome.  If cowardice is the opposite of courage, it is because it is a feeling that all is irretrievably lost and a lack of action ensues.

    Having faith, on the other hand, requires possessing a degree of courage: it is the conviction that a higher power is at work, which will ultimately carry the day.  The courage that is required of faith is the willingness to cede control of the outcome to God and to be ok with that.  Having faith means having the courage to wait on God and not jumpstart God’s plan of action.  Having a courageous faith is certainly not easy; if it were, it wouldn’t be worth much.  It only comes by having gone through significant trials in life and realizing how you’ve been blessed by them.  No one in their right mind wants to suffer.  But to suffer and know that God alone has brought you through it—still alive, scarred but healed, and made stronger by the experience—such is the stuff of both courage and faith.  Focusing on this helps every time fear and doubts assail us.

 

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, ‘Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.’

But Abram said, ‘O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?’

And Abram said, ‘You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.’

But the word of the Lord came to him, ‘This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.’

He brought him outside and said, ‘Look towards heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’

And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.

 

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
   whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
   of whom shall I be afraid?

When evildoers assail me
   to devour my flesh—
my adversaries and foes—
   they shall stumble and fall.

Though an army encamp against me,
   my heart shall not fear;
though war rise up against me,
   yet I will be confident.

One thing I asked of the Lord,
   that will I seek after:
to live in the house of the Lord
   all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the Lord,
   and to inquire in his temple.

For he will hide me in his shelter
   in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
   he will set me high on a rock.

 

At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, ‘Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.’

He said to them, ‘Go and tell that fox for me, “Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work.

Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed away from Jerusalem.”

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.” ’

 

Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us.

For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears.

Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things.

But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.

He will transform the body of our humiliation so that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.