Stand Courageous

“Courage stands strong… Even when it stands alone.” –Francis Chan

We all fight battles, we all go through trials, we all have to stand in the face of temptation, and we all are called to be courageous and stand firm in every challenge we face. It is during these times when you really find out how steady your faith is and what living fearlessly in love with God really means. 

            When I left for college, I left behind a very small family-like Christian high school, I left my incredible parents and family, I left some amazing friends, and I left an incredible support system and community that was constantly guiding me and picking me up when I needed. Now that I'm out on my own, I'm finding out how brave in my faith I truly am. 

“Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.”  -C.S. Lewis

        Everything I previously learned and believed about my values and my faith has been put to the test. Will I walk humbly and with integrity? Will I sit down and spend time with God even when there are a hundred other things I could be doing? Will I give in to the temptation to drink and party? Will I hang around the right crowd? Will I stand firm in my faith and set an example?

I wish I could answer these questions and say it has all been easy. But that isn’t what God promises. In fact, Jesus never promised that it would be easy to follow him, Instead he says that following him involves sacrifice and giving up ourselves for his higher calling.

 “Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.’” Matthew 16:24-27

Jesus says in Matthew that following him means taking up your cross. Does that sound like a promising walk in the park to you? Not really. But what he promises right after he says this is that if we lose our lives for him, we may not gain anything in this world, but that we'll gain so much more in our souls through Jesus.

I said at the beginning of this year that my resolution was to live for God with everything I had, even if I had to stand alone in doing so. Is it easy? Definitely not. But I know that what I sacrifice here on earth will be more than worth it.

Take a look at the way you are living and what areas of your life God may be calling you to be courageous and take up your cross. Is it at work? At school? In your family? In your group of friends? Wherever it may be, at one point or another everyone is going to have to stand firm in their faith and be courageous. And as I’m learning, it is a blessing to be tested and given the opportunity to stand up for what you believe in. I’m not perfect and of course I’ve messed up along the way, but that doesn’t change the fact that God is using my faith and constantly working through me every time I take a stand.

                So remember that following Christ is a sacrifice, but taking a courageous stand for him might make all the difference in not only your own faith, but in the lives of the people around you. At times it may seem like you’re standing up for nothing, but you have to trust that God is working by you and through you every single time you stay true to your faith and make a courageous stand in him. Your courage may just plant a seed that in time becomes someone else’s courage.

"Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened."

-Billy Graham