A False Sense of Courage in the Modern Church

In our last class, we had a very interesting discussion about having courage within the church. Professor Sweet and I had a good conversation about what that means and what it actually looks like in today’s church. The first thing that came to mind when courage was brought up was the misconception of courage in the modern church. It feels to me that there is a kind of false courage that some people exhibit. It’s a cocky kind of courage, where they almost completely disregard the grace extended to those who are not walking with Christ. This can be very damaging and can easily turn non-believers away from the church. When people throw their faith in others’ faces and approach them from a top-down perspective instead of a side-by-side posture, it can leave a bad taste in people’s minds. As Christians, we need to remember that all people are sinners. All fall short of Christ, and no one is perfect. When someone is walking in sin, we must approach them with humility: seeing them as a child of God and as equals to ourselves. This doesn’t mean we avoid sharing the truth. We can, and should, humbly and gently share the truth: always out of love, not pride. People often confuse this, thinking that if we show grace, we’re compromising truth. But in reality, we are called to be gracious. We receive grace every single day of our lives. We must gently and humbly show others the truth and help lead them toward knowing Christ and having a personal relationship with Him. We are no greater than any other human on this earth. So we must lead and share the truth in a way that is humble and invites people to Christ—not pushes them away. It is also important that we share the truth and lead people there. We just must do it in a humble way.