Pastor Chris Seay continues our recent series, drawing from Scripture and the unique insights of theologian C.S. Lewis to teach on courage. What barriers keep us locked in places of fear and inaction, and how does love transform and embolden us to live courageously?
Text
1 Chronicles 28: 20
2 Timothy 1: 7-8
1 Corinthians 15: 58
1 John 4: 18
John 14: 27
Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.
— C. S. Lewis
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was right when he claimed, 'In politics, what begins in fear usually ends up in folly.' Political activists are more inclined, though, to heed an observation from Richard Nixon: 'People react to fear, not love. They don't teach that in Sunday school, but it's true.' That principle, which guided the late president's political strategy throughout his career, is the sine qua non of contemporary political campaigning. Marketers of products and services ranging from car alarms to TV news programs have taken it to heart as well.The short answer to why Americans harbor so many misbegotten fears is that immense power and money await those who tap into our moral insecurities and supply us with symbolic substitutes.
― Barry Glassner, The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things
Courage is the willingness to act in spite of your fear.
— Michael Hyatt
One of the most cowardly things ordinary people do is to shut their eyes to facts.
― C.S. Lewis, Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
It is curious—curious that physical courage should be so common in the world, and moral courage so rare.
— Mark Twain
Reflection
Chris spoke about the barriers standing against courage:
Willful Blindness - In what ways have you simply turned a blind eye to pain or injustice that is often hard to witness?
Self Focus - In what ways have you lacked regard for the needs that are not your own?
Blurring Moral Lines - In the ways you spend your time, money, and attention; how might you be compromising your convictions?
Chris challenged us to love the others in this city, and those around the world, as if they were our own children and family. Who exists on the margins or beyond your own defined capacity and willingness to love? How might your circle of love widen?
Worship Set
Tis So Sweet
All Creatures Of Our God And King
Let Our Faith Be Not Alone
How He Loves
Steadfast
Jesus Cares For Me