One of the Bible’s distinctive catch-cries is “Don’t be afraid.” Often, it’s the necessary greeting that begins interactions between God and humanity, particularly almost every time an angel appears in a Bible story. For example, “Don’t be afraid” is a recurring motif around the birth of Jesus (see Luke 1:13; 1:30; and 2:10), contradicting the harmless amicability we often try to scatter around the “Christmas” story.
But it is also a message delivered by leaders, prophets and apostles to God’s people throughout biblical history. When facing uncertainty, enemies, sorrows and tragedy, the repeated call is “Don’t be afraid.” Amid the darkness, doubts and difficulties, we are urged to live and believe with courage and boldness in a world too often dominated by fear.
The call to courage is recognition that such courage is necessary for living well. Most of us are aware of things that are wrong in the world around us. Most of us are aware of things that are wrong in our communities. Most of us are aware of things wrong in the church. We might even complain about them from time to time to our friends and family.
But it takes courage to stand up and speak up on these issues. It takes courage to try to make a difference. Courage is needed because it is so easy to be wrong, to take evil for granted, to merely float with the current. Yet at times it also takes courage to keep quiet.
It takes courage to believe when so many voices question the possibility of belief. It takes courage to believe differently and it takes courage to share a message of hope in circumstances in which it is not easy to do so. It takes courage to trust that we don’t have to earn credit with God.
It takes courage to choose to “do for others what you would like them to do for you” (Matthew 7:12) and to seek the “pure and lasting religion . . . that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles and refuse to let the world corrupt us” (James 1:27). It takes courage to believe it might be possible to not “let evil get the best of you but conquer evil by doing good” (Romans 12:21).
Of course, courage without goodness—including humility and generosity—is likely to be misdirected and counter-productive. But conversely, we can’t live truly humble or generous lives without a measure of courage. The same applies to all other life qualities. As C S Lewis pointed out in The Screwtape Letters, “Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means, at the point of highest reality.” Any real goodness requires real courage.
But this courage is not something that comes by locking ourselves away to muster moments of courage from our own limited emotional and spiritual resources. Rather, one of the key reasons for participating in a community of faith is to create and share a collective courage, acknowledging our many fears and doubts but somehow borrowing from the faith, hope and wisdom of fellow believers.
Paul regularly urged the early Christians to encourage—“to inspire with courage”—one another (see, for example, 2 Corinthians 13:11). He even acknowledges that we do not all have equal stocks of courage, particularly encouraging those who have more to “encourage those who are timid” (1 Thessalonians 5:14).
But even this is not based merely on a collective resource of courage. Our true courage is built on God and His goodness. In relationship with and knowledge of this God, we find courage to live with our fears and doubts, to confront the wrong around us, and to live with humility, generosity and goodness, whatever our circumstances. After all, He is the God who is almost always cued onto the stage of history, our lives and our world with a “Don’t be afraid” directed to His people.
Luke’s retelling of the Sermon on the Mount adds a remarkable “Don’t be afraid” statement to the well-known “Seek first the kingdom of God” that many Christians have embraced courageously throughout history. It is perhaps the biggest of the Bible’s “Don’t be afraids”—the largest and most profound call to courageous living, believing and serving: “So don’t be afraid, little flock. For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom” (Luke 12:32).
AUTHOR: Nathan Brown