Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

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21 Mar 10

Hey, folks...
    It's going to be another day!
    Be blessed and encouraged.
        Love and prayers. 
            Dad/Ray

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21 March 2010
Passage: Acts 22:22-23:11
Focus: “Take courage!”  Acts 23:11.

            Let’s pretend for a moment.  Let’s pretend that it’s a hot day and you’ve been working hard on an important project.  Now you’re thirsty.  So you approach the owner of the home who has contracted you to work and say, “Excuse me, but I’m very thirsty.  Could I bother you for a drink?”
            “Sure.  No problem,” he says.  “And I’ll let you choose between two drink options.”  He puts a glass on the table and begins to pour.  “How about a tall glass of nice cold kerosene?”  You thought you smelled something funny.  “Or,” he adds, “If you prefer, here’s a nice big glass of ice cold water.  Which will you have?”
            If I were with you, I would certainly want to say, “Take the water!”
            I know, I know—my imagination is kind of strange, but I think this is really quite similar to what’s happening in this passage.  Paul has been working hard.  The last couple days have been particularly tough.  He gets thirsty for rest and encouragement too.  He’s in the middle of a “great uproar” and a whole lot of people screaming, “He’s not fit to live!”  You have to admit, that’s not the most encouraging kind of stuff to hear.  He has the choice to either drink the cup of despair and self-pity, or he can persevere after the pure refreshing water of courage.  During the night, the Lord spoke to Paul in a very special way and said, “Take courage!”  So he did.
            The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that courage is a choice.  You know—“You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.”  I don’t know about you, but there have been too many times in my own experience where I have opted for drinking far too much despair.  Yuck.  It never satisfies.  And as far as positive mental health and spiritual victory go, it really is equivalent to drinking kerosene.
            Without making more personal comment, let me run by you a few New Testament scriptures that feature the strengthening refreshing water of COURAGE.  Give each one a good think…and be careful what you drink.
            “But Jesus immediately said to them: ‘Take courage!  It is I.  Don’t be afraid” (Mtt. 14:27).
            “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus” (Acts 14:13).
            “But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed” (Acts 27:22).
            “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong” (1 Cor. 16:13).
            “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death” (Phil. 1:20).
            “But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house.  And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast” (Heb. 3:6).