Have you ever shown great courage? Maybe you killed a spider for a girl you really liked, stared down cancer or gave birth to another human (Shout out to the moms!!).
Life these days (like all of them before) calls for courage. Sometimes a little, other times more than we suspect we have.
In Acts 5.29, Luke writes that Peter and the apostles told the Sanhedrin, “We must obey God, rather than any human authority!” They said this to the very authority that had both the means and motivation to kill them.
I’ve never decided to obey God at the direct risk of my life. Although I did get 186 vaccinations two years ago so I could travel to Ivory Coast!
Seriously, though, my heart goes out to sisters and brothers who will choose today to stand for Jesus against the advice or demand of the powers-that-be who threaten their lives and livelihood.
I think of the fear Christians confront in Modi’s India, the feistiness of believers in Iran and particularly the courage of Muslims who’ve decided Jesus really is who he claims to be and have chosen to stick to it.
People like a guy I’ve been reading about whose notoriety seems to have gotten a whole nation asking for his head and those of his family. I admire the bravery of the people who attended this conference for Muslim Background Believers.
I also think of the young wives who are standing today against their husband’s demands to deny Christ, the men who are telling beloved uncles they are following Jesus, the husbands and fathers who are trading good jobs for the kingdom of God. The aunties and grandmas who are working two jobs to feed the kids and pastoring their church.
May they see their captain and savior Jesus today in a fresh, powerful and sustaining way.