More than afraid …

Christians love to share posts and encouragements to “Be courageous!”

It isn’t because of fear, all of us have temptations of fear as routine experiences in life.

The Bible almost annoyingly exhorts us to be courageous because we’re more than afraid – many of us have become so habitualized to allowing our fears to influence our decisions and actions (if not dictate them) that we have really become cowards.

If we examine our lives much more closely than we usually do, many of us will discover that the depth and influence of fear runs so deep in our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that our decisions about how we live are deeply impacted by a practice of giving in to fear.

That, my friends, is the consummate demonstration of cowardice.

Many of us are more like the heckler in this tidbit recorded in Today in the Word back in 1993:

During his years as premier of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev denounced many of the policies and atrocities of Joseph Stalin. Once, as he censured Stalin in a public meeting, Khrushchev was interrupted by a shout from a heckler in the audience.

“You were one of Stalin’s colleagues. Why didn’t you stop him?”

“Who said that?” roared Khrushchev.

An agonizing silence followed as nobody in the room dared move a muscle.

Then Khrushchev replied quietly, “Now you know why.”

We like to entertain ourselves with thoughts that we’re courageous enough to speak up — until we potentially face a price for doing so.

The Apostle Peter was plagued with cowardice. We see it displayed in all its ugliness when, on the night Jesus was betrayed, Peter would vehemently deny Jesus three times (John 18:15-27).

Peter was a coward when it came to facing what people thought about him.

That wasn’t the only time we see cowardice demonstrated by Peter. The Apostle Paul would later confront Peter about his cowardly way regarding the opinions of others …

“But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong. When he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile believers, who were not circumcised. But afterward, when some friends of James came, Peter wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles anymore. He was afraid of criticism from these people who insisted on the necessity of circumcision. As a result, other Jewish believers followed Peter’s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy,” Galatians 2:11-13.

Because our lives are not lived in a vacuum, our cowardice affects others; as leaders, our cowardice influences others in negative ways. Barnabas had the reputation for being a great encourager, yet Peter’s cowardice influenced even him.

Culturally, we’re conditioned to take the idea of being a coward as an affront. But if we have a pattern of yielding to our fears, we have become cowards. There is great danger in not facing this issue head-on; cowardice can keep us from faith in, and obedience to, Jesus Christ, leading to a terrible outcome:

“But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death,” Revelation 21:8.

A practice of giving in to our fears will directly impede a practice of living by faith.

Which is your practice?

Scotty