Where Courage Leads

I'm living my life every day and I've noticed something.

It's not the big things that scare me, but rather, the small ones.

Perhaps that's just due to my ignorance. I've never really faced any massive faith-shaking challenges so far. Maybe, I'm unafraid of them merely because I don't know them for what they are.  But what if there's more to that? What if courage means more than just facing the biggest things that challenge us?

What if it's the small things that have the most influence on our lives?

After all, most people don't lose their salvation overnight . Most people don't reject God consciously out of malice or ingratitude. They simply don't care. Often, we're just washed in a sea of distractions and the blustering winds of temptations.

We're too busy working on the "important" stuff. I'd be praying, but wait, let me finish reading this blog post. Or I need to practice my piano, right now. Gosh, man this garden sure needs to be weeded. I'm sorry Mr. God, but I just have absolutely no time for you right now. (or ever, for that matter.)

Sometimes the hard things might just be the easiest ones to accomplish. How many of us would be jumping for the chance to go on a missions trip? How often will we donate money to great causes? How often will we volunteer for some sort of parish project?

How many of us will give up our music, our books, our blogs, our hobbies to offer our assistance around the home? To pray more than five minutes today? To read the Bible intentionally, not just reading some great quote off the internet?

See, courage isn't just facing the giants where they stand; it also means wading in the water to pick up five smooth stones.


It means saying no to those things that pull us away from good deeds, from better relationships, from a stronger faith.

It's fine and dandy to change someone else's life, it's harder still to change our own. It's easier to change where we live than to change how we live. It's easier to forgive than it is to say sorry. And that takes faith, it takes trust.

We have to acknowledge that the time we spend with God, the time we spend with others, is more important than any other thing we will accomplish today.

There's a line that's been pounded into my mind a thousand times. Yet, every time, it really is a rule a life to live by. Not just to think about, not just to apply selectively. It's something to have the courage to live out every day.

"Never let what you're doing, be more important than who you're doing it with."

Don't just pray because you have to, because that's what "good" Christians are supposed to do. Don't give money just because you need to be charitable. Don't give a second of your time to other people, if you can't even live peacefully with your own family.

Don't change the world, but leave yourself out of the equation. If you want to show real commitment, real love, real charity, then change your life in a way that directly affects your immediate lifestyle and surroundings. If I can fly halfway around the world to minister to the poor, but can't crack my Bible open in the mornings, then something is wrong. If all I can do is change the external aspect of my life, then I'm in bad shape.

I don't care how kind you are to your friends or strangers and yet treat your family like dirt. I don't care how much money you give if you can't find the time to be helpful in your daily life. It doesn't matter if you can quote the entire Bible for me but won't put it into practice.

It was not remarkable that Jesus died on a cross, but rather that He chose to. We are all called to do something. We can do great things with no love, or we can do small things with great love.

If you want to truly change someone's life for the better, then change your own first.

That takes real courage.

That shows real love.