The courage for righteousness

“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7). This is the portion of a believer, we have been given power, love and self-discipline or sound mind as other translations have it. I personally prefer the ‘sound mind’ rendition because it denotes the idea of self-control. When Paul wrote this letter to Timothy, he was encouraging him to carry the baton and continue to be faithful in doing the good work of the Lord. Paul wanted Timothy’s confidence to be in the Lord and not in himself, in his age or in the society. It is clear that Timothy faced challenges because of his youth, being in a patriarchal society but Paul tells him to not pay attention to such things but rather to continue to press on to the work of the gospel. What I see from that charge and encouragement from Paul is that it takes courage to live righteously, it takes courage to live for the Lord. The bible is filled with passages about the heart’s desire of the Lord: justice for the oppressed, righteousness, fairness, defending those who cannot defend themselves such as orphans and widows. Unfortunately, we live in a society where it is increasingly difficult to live righteously, to live in a manner pleasing to the Lord. Throughout the bible, God has made it clear that He has not changed, in fact, His commandments are the same whether you go into the Old Testament or if you navigate the New Testament. Everyone that was called by God – his servants had to show courage to do the job assigned to them. Following the Lord, or obedience to God requires courage.

When I think of Jeremiah the prophet, I think of how much persecution he had to face simply because he was prophesying messages from the Lord. Indeed, Jeremiah spent his whole life prophesying “negative” messages towards Judah and his messages were never welcomed. For that reason, he was not welcomed anywhere even among the people of the Lord, among the priests and other prophets. As he himself says “I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me. Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the Lord has brought me insult and reproach all day long.” (Jeremiah 20:7-8). Despite the challenges, the persecutions, the loneliness, Jeremiah obeyed God, he continued to preach, he never stopped preaching or delivering the word of the Lord as the Lord would tell him. What I find fascinating is that in the same chapter twenty of Jeremiah, we read that he would put his trust in the Lord when times were difficult. Because of how hated Jeremiah was, many were wishing him dead, as a matter of fact a few chapters later some people take him to the temple courts to ensure he can be appropriately sentenced to death (Jeremiah 26:11). In such difficult situations, God proved to Jeremiah that his life was in His hands, that He cared for him and would ensure that his persecutors would stumble and not prevail (Jeremiah 20:11). When God calls you, He certainly equips you and He does not leave you alone. Jeremiah could count on the presence of the Lord, he could count on the promises of God upon his life, and he could count on the retribution of the Lord, because God is true to His promises and when He says He will take care of you, you can rest assure He will. Jeremiah exhibited a lot of courage to be able to stand against the arrows of the enemy. Whether he had fear in him or not, what is clear is that it did not stop him from obeying the Lord. Jeremiah persevered. This is indeed the path of those who have trusted in the saving work of Jesus Christ, all those who call themselves after his name, Christians.

I find it surprising that it should take courage to stand upon the truth, courage to speak and act justly, courage to defend the cause of the powerless because these are all good things, and when justice is enacted in a land, everyone benefits from it. The passage in Matthew where Jesus says “from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it” (Matthew 11:12) reminds me that force has to be employed to take the kingdom of heaven. I am sure there are many interpretations to this verse but one thing is clear from it, the kingdom of heaven is not for the faint of heart. It requires courage to be in it, to continue to abide by its rules. In fact, I cannot help but think of the passage where Paul tells us to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). The same vigor that the bible uses to tell believers that they live in a warfare world, hence they must fight the sin in them, is the same vigor we see in the verses above. The language is one of battle which means we must never think for one minute that it is not the case. The moment we stop thinking and acting like we are in a war that very minute we have given the enemy the upper hand. We ought to be always on our guard and that will require that we show courage. Jesus showed courage when he lived this earth and he did not run away from the cross neither did he run away from the insults of people because he lived for something bigger than himself – the will of the Father. Similarly, the apostles: Paul, Peter, Luke, Andrew, John, etc. also did not let persecution steer them away from obeying the Father, they did not stop doing what the Father desires. As much as they preached the good news of Jesus Christ to many nations they also lived the life of the Kingdom. Justice, love, righteousness, truth, respect, defending the oppressed or the one who could not defend himself were just part of the culture and character traits that the disciples exhibited. They created their own culture not because they wanted to separate but simply because they were obedient to the will of the Father. God’s will permeated even into their daily habits. Truly, the early Christians had a compelling gospel because what they preached was evident in their lives. Lives were being changed dramatically, people could see how they interacted with each other and the rest of the society and attest to the power of God at work in them. Indeed, the witness of the church was powerful.

Unfortunately, today, the church has forgotten her first love (Revelation 2:4). The love of this world has taken a hold of her and she does not seem to care about what is important anymore. We must go back to living for the will of the Father, we must return to living for our King. Our lives are not ours anymore and we cannot afford to sleep in a battle zone. We have lacked courage in every area, and I must say part of it is because we have been so far away from the truth that we have welcomed the lies of the enemy. This concept of us living in a war came alive to me as I meditated on the lives of Jeremiah and other saints. Indeed, it cost them their lives to remain faithful to the Father, it cost them their lives to live courageously, it cost them their lives to live righteously. We cannot expect a different outcome because as Jesus said “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33). So then, how are you contending for the will of the Father in your life? How are you fighting sin in your life? This starts always in the little things, our daily habits including what we say, hear, do or see. We must be strong enough to say no to whatever the Father does not approve whether it is in our character or in the society we live in because we are the salt and light of this earth and we must shine and put flavour wherever we are; we are ambassadors of the Kingdom of God. May God forgive us for our laxity and may He help us get back in position to fight because the time is near.