Courage

"Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn out its seven pillars. She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; she has also set her table. She has sent out her maids, and she calls out from the highest point of the city. 'Let all who are simple come in here!' she says to those who lack judgment. 'Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of understanding" (Proverbs 9:1-6).

"Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point." -C. S. Lewis

I want to understand.

When I say "understand," I mean have the grace to overlook and forgive when I am affronted. To have compassion on people that puzzle me. To have humility in remembering "I too am like every other." To have the foresight to see what each word, each step, each decision may bring. To remember to look for heaven in the dark. And not to hate God when I stub my toe looking.

I want to understand.

But it takes courage to honestly seek understanding. It takes boldness and unwavering trust in a God I can't see with my own eyes.

It is said that King Solomon was the wisest man to ever walk the earth. God gave him wisdom in excess. When two women came before King Solomon arguing over a baby, he threatened to cut the baby in half knowing that the real mother would rather let the other woman have her child than see it be murdered before her. Solomon possessed insight that I will never know, yet he had hundreds - yes HUNDREDS - of concubines at his command. Not only so, but he began to worship some of his whores' pagan gods. Now I'm far from being the wisest woman in the world, and I certainly do not understand many many things. However, I'm pretty sure I'm wise enough to know that the very God who gave Solomon his wisdom would not be very happy with him for worshiping other gods. I don't know Hebrew, but in English we call that "being stupid" and in the south "just plain dumb."

Solomon lacked courage. Courage to put his wisdom into action. Instead of using this incredible gift that he was given by the one true God of the Jews, he ignored it.

He reminds me of the rich man who spoke with Jesus. He was an upright Jewish man who followed the law of God to a "t." He had done nothing wrong in Jewish standards. He stood proudly in front of Jesus, smirking about his righteousness. Yet when Jesus simply asked him to sell all of his possessions and give them to the poor, he walked away defeated. He walked away like a coward.

It's hard to really follow the one true God. King Solomon knew it. The rich young ruler knew it. I know it. You can have gifts or fruits like wisdom, righteousness, compassion, kindness, self control, but only with courage. Where does courage come from? Relentless faith. Headlong pursuit of the God who created us.

It is true that we are not saved by our works. In Ephesians chapter 2 it says, "It is by grace you have been saved, through faith - not by works, so that no one can boast." BUT active faith that pursues the living God and fans the flame He lights within us WILL produce his good works.

And active faith takes courage.