Do you meet life… bravely? Not aggressively, bravely. Not fearful, bravely. Not hesitantly, bravely. I believe the source for ‘bravely’ is based in confidence. How can we be brave without confidence? I also believe that confidence has a source, so we know our foundation.
Whether you call it, ‘when the rubber meets the road’ or ‘walking the talk’ this is the ‘proof of the pudding’. I’m confident that, for most of us, living out daily our faith is a positive, something we do want to do. We really want to be a good example, model of a maturing Christian. We know that living our faith is visible. And granted, not always easy to accomplish. But… how do we live out our faith?! what does this actually mean? Is it really important? The question is … how would someone else describe us based only on our behavior? Do they see our Christian foundation?
Obviously, the place to begin is to know, understand, and apply what we know and understand about what our faith is… not just the who it’s in, but what it’s about and how we go about being/doing it. One of my pillars in doing this is the scripture:
” But he who is uncertain [about eating a particular thing] is condemned if he eats, because he is not acting from faith. Whatever is not from faith is sin [whatever is done with doubt is sinful]. ” (Romans 14:23, AMP)
Granted, this verse is talking about eating, but the principle can be applied in different areas/ways. Specific to this theme and scripture, for me, when I take the time to check my spirit about doing/saying something, and I get a check. I try and stop and reconsider. The point is that we all need some spiritual approach to confirm what we are doing. This scripture is my approach (though it may not be yours). Following a check or a peace gives me the assurance that I can be totally ‘in’ the moment and live bravely.
I’m not talking about spiritual warfare, though to be effective, one does need to live bravely. (This focus will be discussed in a different post.). This post is directed to how we live our lives daily… how we meet the challenges and opportunities we face in the day, what we do with the call on our lives, how we grow. All of these components are part and parcel of living bravely. It also is something we CAN do. Never forgot God’s instruction to Joshua…
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not be terrified or dismayed (intimidated), for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)
Personally, I love the phrase … for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. This increases the ‘bravely’ for me. I’m going into my day, every day with the person and power of the God of the universe.
Living bravely in our world is not just important, I believe it’s critical. However we shouldn’t assume that a question is a challenge or that even a challenge is grounds for fighting. Living bravely is our mindset and our heartset about how we live and how we do our lives. It is based in not compromising the Word of God nor interpreting it according to our assumptions. Living bravely is being confident, choosing to live lovingly, and acting according to the Word. We all can do this as we grow in who we are and how we go about being us. We also have the Holy Spirit in us to accomplish this – we have One who works with us.
