And
she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were
with the prophet that is
in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy.
And
one
went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that
is
of the land of Israel.
2
Kings 5:3-4
When
is the last time you did something that took courage?
This
little maid had a lot of courage to speak up for the good of her
Master and for the glory of her God.
She
didn't let thoughts like, “What will they think of me? What
will happen to me?” stop her.
She
was more concerned about her Master than about herself.
Doing
what's right often takes courage. To be different, to share the
Gospel, to give out a tract, to invite someone to church, to witness,
to speak up for God, to speak up for someone when they're being
criticized or gossiped about, to be friendly to someone new or
different all takes courage.
To
apologize and admit you are wrong takes courage.
To
own up and take the blame takes courage.
HOW
can we have courage? To have courage we need to forget ourselves and
instead think about the other person.
Or
if it's a case of standing up for God and what is right we need
forget ourselves and think of God.
I
remember one time when I was a teenage girl that I did something that
took me a lot of courage. I will tell you about it. (The names are
changed)
In
my teenage years I ran a Sunday School and a Girl's 4 God Club. There
were 2 different girls from the community who came to both. Stacy had
2 friends who were sisters and the Chloe lived across from these same
2 girls. (These 2 girls were not Christians and didn't go to church
or anything Christian.) So when I saw Stacy or picked up Chloe I saw
or thought of these 2 girls. I knew I should invite them to my Girl's
Club, but... I didn't want to. Why? Because I was afraid of their
mum! I had seen her a few times and she was a loud person, always
growling her girls. I was sure she would get angry at me too if I
asked.
Finally,
one day, I got an invite to my Girl's Club and knocked on their door
in fear and trembling. I was in for a pleasant surprise. The mother
answered the door and was very friendly to me. She told me it was up
to the girls—they could go if they wanted to.
They
started coming to my Girl's Club. Their friend Stacy told me, “They'd
never be allowed to go to church!” But not long after, they
started coming to church aswell! Some time later they went off to
boarding school and when I got married I moved away. So I’ve lost
contact with them now, but I am so glad that I invited them so they
had a chance to learn about God and hear the Gospel. Maybe it's the
only chance they ever got!
But
I had to stop thinking of myself and what might happen to me and
instead think of how much they needed to hear about God. I needed to
think “What will they think of me on judgment day if I don't?”
To
have courage you need to love God and others more than you love
yourself.
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