Defining Courage || What is Courage? || Week 1

The Greek word “tolmao” (tol-mah-o) means courageously venturing forward by putting fear behind and embracing the fruit that lies ahead for taking a necessary risk. The Bible uses this translation to mean “to have courage” or “to be bold.” Over this 4-week series, I want to use four stories of the Bible that use this form of courage and apply it to our modern-day lives.

One of the conversations I want to discuss happens in Mark 12. One of the teachers asks Jesus what the most important commandment was. Jesus told us his favorite two commandments: Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. The teacher understands that these commandments are more important than any burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law. Jesus saw how much the teacher understood and told him that he wasn’t far from the Kingdom of God. Then no one dared to ask him any questions.

No one was bold enough to continue questioning Jesus. The teacher grasped this understanding and how much more important this was than following the offering and sacrificial laws. This teacher taught about these laws all his life. He grew up learning these topics and teaching them others because it was what he knew to be true. But, he was also able to set what he knew aside to have a conversation that changed his mindset. Pastor Cathi will touch on this later in her sermon regarding Nathaniel.

It’s hard to change your thoughts when you’ve believed something for so long. It’s hard to have a conversation that changes a foundational belief that you’ve held on to. We cling tightly to what we’ve known for so long. Setting aside what you know to have a conversation that could potentially change your beliefs, change your thought pattern, and even change your life is complicated. It takes courage. Going back to our definition, you have to put the fear of losing what you know behind and embracing the new fruit, the new view of things, ahead by taking a NECESSARY risk.

The religious law teacher was taking that considerable risk to ask Jesus what he did because he knew that either
a) He was going to trap Jesus in an answer that would get Jesus persecuted
b) He would receive an answer that would change his whole view.

To stay that what Jesus said was more important than what he knew and taught for so long took courage. It took that boldness to say it in front of the teachers and took boldness even to say it to himself. I challenge you to think about some topics that come up in your life see what troubles you. Then see how you can use this newfound courage that we talked about today to push forward and embrace the fruit ahead. Don’t forget that we talked last week about living in the shock value. Having courage can help cushion the shock of receiving the new fruit.