Courage

I recently read a story about 2 men testing out a new shark repellent. They first threw chum or shark bait into the water. After about 10 minutes a dozen sharks were circling in the water and it included 3 big tiger sharks. Then one man grabs a camera and jumps right in the water with them while the other guy grabs the re-pulsar and after a few seconds drops that in the water after his friend. Instantly all of the sharks run away from the man in the water and after a few minutes he is completely alone in the water. Then last night I was watching the first Hobbit film and a line from the book is spoken by Gandalf in the movie. Gandalf tells Bilbo, "true courage is not taking a life but knowing when to spare a life".

Both of these instances reminded me of a section of my teaching time tomorrow. This fall we have started to work our way through the book of Philippians and in the middle section of chapter 1, Paul talks about advancing the Gospel. At one point Paul points out that others have advanced the Gospel with all boldness. Paul is reminding us that it takes courage to get the news of Jesus out there. To truly preach Jesus in the world full of people who hate Him, it is like jumping in the water with sharks. Gandalf is right, to tell others about Jesus and save their eternal life is true courage. When we truly do not slink down from our duty of defending and preaching Jesus, it is true courage. Satan is the king of this world and sin is counter Jesus. We must have courage and hold on to the courage to preach Jesus. Courage is a character trait that we need as Christians to honor Jesus and proclaim His name