“The stories of past courage can … teach, they can offer hope, they can provide inspiration. But they cannot supply courage itself. For this each man must look into his own soul.”
John F. Kennedy, Profiles in Courage
Clarity about our current times came to me while talking with my mother. At ninety-one years old, she was recalling legendary visitors to her middle and high schools: Jackie Robinson, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Mary McLeod Bethune—each a person of courage.
Among her great presidents, she counts Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson. FDR remade America into an international beacon of hope for freedom, and Johnson’s groundbreaking leadership secured rights long denied to African Americans.
Growing up, I remember her placing Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy, and Robert Kennedy in that same company. She also made me watch the footage of the Democratic National Convention when Shirley Chisholm was the first woman to run for president.
Most of these people were Democrats, because she, like many African Americans, was one. But the impact on me was not political. Their lives impressed upon me the importance of courage. From this perspective, the world of today feels so different.
Historians will give us many reasons to diminish these exemplars of courage. In the effort to tell the whole story, sensationalists have eroded our heroes—using their weaknesses, even their sins, to dismiss them as though we do not all share the same humanity. I am left to wonder if the collateral damage to our culture and collective memory is the loss of courage.
In place of the courageous, we have influencers—people who sell more often than they inspire, people who have done little, people who have never stood up for anything beyond what increases their following. And so we have become a nation of attention-seekers and voyeurs at the very moment we most need to become people of courage. Perhaps you, like me, wonder, what have we done?
The challenges of this world are many, and if we can learn anything from history, the central quality required to manage and master them is courage. Have you ever considered that our world is made worse not because today’s problems are unique, but because we as a society no longer honor courage? How much different might the world be if the conscience of humankind awakened to our need to become people of courage, fearless pioneers in uncertain times with passion and purpose to create a world better than the one we inherited?
“I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”
John 16:33 CSB
In John 16, Jesus empowered his disciples to face the world and all its problems with courage. He came and lived on earth, died on a cross, and rose from the dead to free us from sin and simultaneously the fears that imprison us. Then he called those who would follow him to free others by venturing into the frontiers of life to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” (Matthew 28:19).
This is the greatest call to courage in the history of humankind. Eleven individuals heard it, became pioneers into the frontiers of their times and sacrificed their lives to the point of death, all with a passion to leave the world better than they found it. At a time when so many are looking for a purpose worthy of their courage, this is it.
Few people exemplify our cultural and spiritual challenge to follow Jesus into a life of courage more than two key figures in the Bible—Saul and David. Let’s take a look at the contrast between them and what it tells us.
Saul and David: Cowardice, courage, and the choice we must make
Courage is rarely rewarded when exercised. It is sometimes acknowledged, often ridiculed, and punished when it’s dangerous. This was the experience of a young man named David, one of history’s most courageous leaders, who would eventually become king of Israel.
When then-King Saul and his army were confronted with the lethality of the Philistine warrior Goliath, “they were scared and ran off” (1 Samuel 17:24). In the midst of their courage deficit and battlefield crisis, David arrived as a food delivery boy from his father for his brothers. He asked a question:
David asked some soldiers standing nearby, “What will a man get for killing this Philistine and stopping him from insulting our people? Who does that worthless Philistine think he is? He’s making fun of the army of the living God!”
1 Samuel 17:26 CEV
Eliab, David’s older brother, heard him and reacted in anger:
David’s oldest brother Eliab heard him talking with the soldiers. Eliab was angry at him and said, “What are you doing here, anyway? Who’s taking care of that little flock of sheep out in the desert? You spoiled brat! You came here just to watch the fighting, didn’t you?”
1 Samuel 17:28 CEV
As is so often the case when someone courageous steps forward, the response David got was diminishing ridicule and dismissive incredulity. His brother punished him emotionally, likely due to the disconcerting effect of sibling rivalry.
But then other soldiers acknowledged the courage that David’s brother would not:
Some soldiers overheard David talking, so they told Saul what David had said. Saul sent for David, and David came. [32] “Your Majesty,” he said, “this Philistine shouldn’t turn us into cowards. I’ll go out and fight him myself!”
1 Samuel 17:31-32 CEV
The Contemporary English Version of the Bible captures the contrast between David and Saul. Goliath surfaced David’s courage and revealed the cowardice of Saul and his army. This is what our modern-day “Goliaths” do to us. Every formidable problem in our lives and in the world will test our character and reveal what is at its core—courage or cowardice.
You and me: Will we run or will we fight?
When Goliath started forward, David ran toward him. [49] He put a rock in his sling and swung the sling around by its straps. When he let go of one strap, the rock flew out and hit Goliath on the forehead. It cracked his skull, and he fell facedown on the ground. [50] David defeated Goliath with a sling and a rock. He killed him without even using a sword.
1 Samuel 17:48-50 CEV
David ran toward Goliath, without worrying about whether or not he had what it took to defeat this giant.
Right now, I can name three to four Goliaths in my life. How about you? The world around us counsels the pursuit of comfort, not courage: Avoid, don’t fight. Conform, don’t live with conviction. Amass followers or be silent, but under no circumstances risk being different.
If you and I want to be spiritual, to experience the conquering Spirit of Jesus, and to live like David instead of Saul, then we must choose courage. Like David, we can’t worry about our resources. We must trust what God gives us and run to the fight.
Do I dare? Do you dare? This is our spiritual frontier, and our answer tells us whether we have the courage to conquer it.
