August 6 - Be People of Courage

August 6 - Be People of Courage
1 Corinthians 16:13

“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love.”

You know, one thing the Cowardly Lion had in abundance was love. He cared for his traveling companions and got emotional when it was time for Dorothy to go home.

I think we forget the importance of doing everything in love.  We screw up our courage to tell someone off who has done us wrong.  We stand firm in our faith against those we believe might be out to harm it.  We act out in strength, we say things and we feel quite righteous and justified in our words and our actions.  We’re absolutely certain that we are on the right side.

Today, as I was thinking about some of the more horrendous things that have occurred in the last few weeks, I thought of things people did and said in the name of their faith and then I thought about how so many awful things were done in the name of faith throughout the centuries.

Wars have been fought, people have been burned at the stake. Slaves have been taken from their homes, murder has been committed. Awful things are said about and to people with whom we disagree and we say that it is because we are protecting our right to believe and we are standing up for our faith.

But, we forget those four words.  “Do everything in love.”

Those should be our watchwords.  Try it for a few days.