November 17, 2020
The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien, tells the story of Bilbo Baggins, a comfort-loving hobbit, who is thrust into an unwanted quest for dragon treasure with a group of dwarves. He faces all manner of hardships, from orcs to hostile elves to giant spiders.
Finally, the group of adventurers reaches their destination: the mountain lair of Smaug the Dragon. Bilbo enters the dragon’s lair through a secret door in the mountainside. All the dwarves are waiting outside, and Bilbo has to face the dragon alone. As he makes his way through the dark tunnel, he hears what sounds like a kettle bubbling on the stove. That sound grows into what sounds like a giant cat purring. Suddenly Bilbo realizes that he’s hearing the sound of the dragon snoring deep in the cave.
Bilbo is petrified. He wants nothing more than to turn back, and he nearly does; but then he decides to go on. Tolkien writes, “Going on from there was the bravest thing he ever did. The tremendous things that happened afterward were as nothing compared to it. He fought the real battle in the tunnel alone, before he ever saw the vast danger that lay in wait.”
Have you ever faced a challenge like this? A challenge that seemed so big and scary that you wanted to run away from it before you even assessed its enormity and level of difficulty? We all reach these points in our lives when we say to ourselves, “I’m too small to tackle what’s ahead.”
Dealing with dragons (or other scary challenges) isn’t easy. It takes a whole lot of courage.
These scary challenges—these “dragons”—won’t always seem like a big deal to anyone but you. Perhaps you’re struggling with a moral dilemma. Perhaps you deal with excessive shyness. Perhaps you need to forgive someone who has wronged you. These personal challenges can require just as much courage as facing down a real dragon.
C. S. Lewis wrote, “Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at its testing point.” Bilbo’s testing point came in the tunnel, before he ever saw the dragon. He had to face his own fear. He had to face his own self-doubt.
To me, courage is simply this: refusing to let yourself defeat yourself. Before you can ever win great victories, before you can ever achieve great success, you first have to face down your own self.
Sometimes our success is hampered by outside circumstances, and honestly, it’s easier to blame our failings on outside stuff. If we can blame others, we can sit back and wait for them to change. The truth is that far more often we’re defeated by our own negative habits, attitudes, mindsets, or simply the fear of the unknown.
Courage is the guts to deal with whatever is holding you back. It’s realizing that you are responsible for you, and refusing to give yourself room to wiggle out of doing what’s right. That’s why courage is “every virtue at its testing point.”
If you’re anything like me, then you’re probably feeling that having this kind of courage is nearly impossible. As strong as we are, or try to be, we often lack the courage that we need. So where can we find the courage to face life’s challenges?
Joshua 1:9 tells us, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”1
Deuteronomy 31:6 says, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”2
In Psalm 31:24, King David says, “Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.”3
Are you starting to see the trend here? You can have courage because God is with you. He doesn’t send you out to face your dragons alone. He’s right there with you, backing you up, not only ready to give you the strength and courage that you need, but also promising to meet you there and carry you through.
Acts 1:8 promises that “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” God is ready to give us the courage we need as soon as we ask Him for it.
Once you’ve asked God for courage, you have to choose to use it, even if you don’t feel courageous. It will be there for you as you step out and believe God has the answer. And to do so is an ongoing choice. It’s not a one-time thing that will last the rest of your life. Florence Nightingale said, “Courage is the common currency of all those who choose to do the right thing.” Courage begins as a decision and grows as you consistently use it.
Often courage is simply putting one foot in front of the other, taking small, sometimes even tiny, steps forward. Every time you make a brave choice—even if it’s a little one—you’re strengthening your courage. Then, when bigger challenges come, you’ll have the courage to tackle them.
So choose to face your dragons boldly and with courage.—Marie Story
Paul says in [Philippians 3] verse 11–14: “and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
You see the picture: the striving, the sacrifice, the energy, the critical moment where I have to press through my adversity in order to gain Christ. The character of Christ isn’t free. I have to strive and say no to certain things, and say yes to Him …
God is calling you to meet Christ Jesus, to become like Jesus, and ultimately to be found in Christ Jesus in Heaven. He is pushing you to a loving act that no one else could ever have done for you, and Heaven is pulling you. You have the push of the cross, and the pull of Heaven.
We do not have to look for the motivation to become like Jesus. We have it. It’s the bloody cross. We honor His sacrifice first, and then we have something to look forward to. We look back and forward. There is the prize. I’m headed toward Him.
Here’s the question that I want you to think about: What is the dragon that stands between you and reaching your spiritual goals? … When I talk about what dragon stands in your way, think about what gets in the way of your relationship with God. It could be an attitude, an action, or a perspective. Maybe you’re in a hurry…
Everything that is happening to you right now, all the events leading up to now, God is using to forge character in you. That’s what the Bible talks about in Philippians 1:6, “being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
You know your destination. The dragon you have to slay is sin in every form. Anything that hurts your relationship with God and other people, God says—amputate it.4 If not, it will be a drain on your life. … The picture is that we are running a marathon and we don’t need any extra weight on us…
It’s not a very comfortable life, because you’re making decisions against comfort, feeling, and culture to win God’s purposes manifested in your life. As you do that, as you win each consecutive battle—often on a daily basis—you begin to become more like Christ.—Kenny Luck5
Published on Anchor November 2020. Read by John Laurence.
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