We have the blessing and the curse of living in the most remarkable Information Age in history. When we have an ailment or a disease, how quickly can we slide down an endless Google rabbit hole? Although we want and need facts and information, not everything applies to us. Our trials can make us vulnerable. Therefore, we must be the gatekeepers of our brains. If we aren’t careful, the abundance of Googleable information can have us prematurely thinking grieving at thoughts of our funeral. When we need courage, the first step is to protect is our minds.
” You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”
Isaiah 26:3
Faith Takes Courage
God didn’t call us to be ostriches, deny the facts, and call it faith. However, to become strong and courageous, we must guard the door of our minds. It takes courage to face the truth, our weaknesses, pain, helplessness, especially sin. It happens in the quietness of our souls when it’s just us, without distractions of life. When we are faced with terror, we can bring it to the foot of the cross. It’s there where we receive mercy and grace to help us in it all. We don’t need to be strong; we only need to bring those fears to God, the one who gives us strength. If he didn’t spare his own son to help us, he’s not going to leave us alone in our struggles.
“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
Psalm 46:1
“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Hebrews 4:16
Good News
The gospel is called the good news for a reason. What can be better than having an audience with the King of Kings, being deemed worthy of his presence and recipient of His unconditional love, empowering grace, and unmerited forgiveness? The only courage we need is to admit our shortcomings, and God can fill every weakness with His grace, and it’s all we need for that moment. He substitutes His perfect strength for our weakness.
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9-11
