A vital element for expanding your life …

One of the benefits of social media is when someone shares something that makes you stop and “go deep,” to ponder something of real and significant truth.

I saw a post like that yesterday.

It was a simple statement that a little Googling tells me is credited to author Anais Nin:

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.

In consideration of that statement, it’s no wonder that the Bible provides us with an assortment of messages encouraging us to be courageous people! With courage, we’ll have the capacity to step out and be all God intends for us to be, to experience all God intends for us to experience, and to do all God would have us to do.

With courage, we can be steadfast in our beliefs.

With courage, we can take the risks inherent in loving another human being.

With courage, we can give without fear of loss.

With courage, we can pursue God-given dreams.

With courage, we can live counter to the culture.

And without courage, we can fail to take the simplest steps, the simplest stands, or make even the simplest efforts.

Pastor and author Charles Swindoll tells the story about a test conducted at a university where 10 students were placed in a room. Three lines of varying length were drawn on a card. The students were told to raise their hands when the instructor pointed to the longest line. But nine of the students had been instructed beforehand to raise their hands when the instructor pointed to the second longest line. That means one student was the “stooge.” The usual reaction of the stooge was to put his hand up, look around and, realizing he was all alone, pull it back down. This happened 75 percent of the time among students from grade school to high school.

Without courage, three-quarters of the test “stooges” didn’t have the nerve simply to raise their hands for something they knew to be accurate. If we don’t have the courage in such simple circumstances, imagine how more broadly and deeply we fail with more significant truths!

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage!

There’s a story told about a condemned prisoner awaiting execution who was granted the usual privilege of choosing the dishes he wanted to eat for his last meal. He ordered a large mess of mushrooms.

“Why all the mushrooms and nothing else?” inquired the guard.

“Well,” replied the prisoner, “I always wanted to try them, but was afraid to eat them before!”

Waiting to act until there’s nothing to lose isn’t courage. Putting your life on the line for what you believe, who you love, and what is truly important — when what is valuable is risked — requires courage. And when courage is gathered and expressed when something can be lost, you expand your life.

You live bigger!

You live fuller!

You live freer!

That’s because God hasn’t give us a spirit of fear, but calls us to be courageous people …

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline,” 2 Timothy 1:7.

“Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong. And do everything with love,” 1 Corinthians 16:13-14.

“Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord,” Psalm 27:14.

“The wicked run away when no one is chasing them, but the godly are as bold as lions,” Proverbs 28:1.

Are you fostering fears that, as a result, are contracting your life? How could your life expand if only you gather courage from God and live courageously?

Scotty