Due to the Lord’s presence and words to Paul in Acts 23:11, it seems safe to say that the Lord deemed him faithful in his witness for Christ. Even though this is specific encouragement given to Paul for his particular apostolic ministry, there is at least one part that can be universally applied to all of God’s people…take courage. Here are a few passages that give encouragement to God’s people along these lines:
Deut. 31:6 Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.
Ps. 27:14 Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.
Ps. 31:23 O love the Lord, all you His godly ones!
The Lord preserves the faithful And fully recompenses the proud doer.
24 Be strong and let your heart take courage, All you who hope in the Lord.
John 16:33 These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.
In light of those wonderful promises, what hinders courage for Christ in our lives?
–Trying to manufacture circumstantial peace instead of trusting in the peace that Christ gives—“I can’t wait for the Lord; I must make something happen now!”
–Masking retaliation under the guise of courage; this is a self-centered pursuit instead of a Christ centered. (V.11—Paul was focused on the cause of Christ)
–Getting distracted by peripheral matters—are we known to be about Christ or something else? A great way to stifle a witness for Christ is to make lesser things primary. Paul could have taken this opportunity to defend himself or his purification ritual he was engaged in when he was taken into custody, but instead he used this unique occasion to highlight a primary doctrine of the Scriptures—the resurrection.
For all Christians, courage will be required to be faithful to Christ and the source of this courage will come from outside of you, namely the truth of God applied to your heart by the Spirit of God.
So we all need to be thinking, what is it that you need to overcome to represent Christ well and how does the knowledge of God’s sovereign hand upon you give you confidence to take courage?
This is what is necessary to be faithful in our witness for Christ.