|
Courage versus Bravado
by Art Hobba
(Excerpts from Chapter 8 of
Called to War)
"You can say almost anything
(in correction) to someone if they know you love them."
--Darrell Roberts
'Niceness" (not to be confused with the spiritual fruit of
kindness, gentleness, and goodness) has overflowed into the
aisles. Paid professionals know that conflict can endanger a
church's stability, so they often nominate men or women who
won?t ruffle the feathers of the leaders? direction or the
established status quo of a ruling group of Elders. Staff gets
selected because of their reputation or service record of giving
themselves away quietly, without making waves. And love, true
love, that is willing to risk the relationship so someone can be
freed from a destructive deception or blind spot, falls prey to
expediency or politicking. Love, in many churches, has become
vapid as we sharpen our skills at beating around the bush.
"Church staffs are the most dysfunctional organizations of
any I have worked with because they have such a high level of
"grace" that they are unable to "speak the truth in love" to one
another. Stress from work is higher among these good people than
I see in the secular workforce because they're afraid to be
direct with one another in the fear that they might offend or be
branded as unaccepting.?
--Patrick Lencioni
And fear can dominate families as well. Mom tries to be nice
by seeking to be a peacemaker at any cost, while Dad sees that
the shortest distance between two points is a good fight, or
vica versa. Collateral damage mounts up in confused, angry, and
scared kids, and a loss of intimacy in the marriage. Dad is
trying to ?fix? the problem, fearful it will fester; mom is
afraid that conflict will hurt her family members; and the
children are afraid their folks will break up.
Peter, Thomas, and the rest of the Disciples fled when the
temple soldiers came to arrest Jesus. Yet each of them sought to
best the other just hours before by declaring their irrevocable
commitment to follow Jesus to death if needed . We love
heroes...and we despise cowards. Stories and movies that portray
men as brave gain our admiration, like secret service agent
Frank Horrigan, played by aging Clint Eastwood, who takes a
bullet for the President in Line of Fire. Or like William
Wallace in Braveheart, when his rage ignites at the senseless
murder of his young wife, and how his fire spread throughout the
common oppressed men of Scotland.
We all despise evil cowards. Cowards like the usurping
Commodus in the movie Gladiator, the ambitious and murderous
successor who set himself up as Caesar after suffocating his
father. He was terrified of Maximus and had to drive a killing
dagger into his back to disable him while prearranging what was
supposed to look like a fair fight.
But we disdain poor and weak cowards. Like I was. There is
nothing that curdled my blood like those moments when I looked
inside to see, at my core, a fearful man. I believed it was the
way I was wired, but it was not true.
I think of how the young disciple Mark must have felt after
he cut and ran after things heated up in the battlefield of
Paul?s and Barnabus' first missionary journey. Here they were, a
triad of brothers, pioneering the launch of Christianity to the
world with signs and wonders! They did not know that their
invasion would result in violent persecution. Paul and Barnabas
"stayed"...they bore up under it and leaned into the darkness,
driving the sled of the Kingdom of God down the throats of Hell,
and raising it as they went! It just got "too hot in the
kitchen" for Mark...and he bolted.
"As a Christian man, I thought I pretty much had it all
together. But then I encountered the Core 300 Warrior series.
The series asked me to look deeper; we learned to sustain each
other at our table, becoming our own support group, helping to
examine our fears and acknowledge where growth was needed. Now
in the light of trusted friends, we were able to give over our
fears to God and put on the armor of His warriors. Together we
grew and became stronger and more selfless servants of God."
--Dave Tofanelli
We can imagine that Gideon was having difficulty dealing with
the loss of seventy percent of his fighting force. He was
probably working through the battle plan in his mind and
rationalizing to himself that those who remained were focused
and unafraid. He probably thought, ?better to have these ten
thousand than a bunch of men who will turn tail and cause a
rout.? Judges 7:4-6 continues:
But the LORD said to Gideon, "There are still too many men.
Take them down to the water, and I will sift them for you there.
If I say, 'This one shall go with you,?' he shall go; but if I
say, 'This one shall not go with you,' he shall not go."?
So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the LORD told
him, "Separate those who lap the water with their tongues like a
dog from those who kneel down to drink.?" Three hundred men
lapped with their hands to their mouths. All the rest got down
on their knees to drink.
I like to distinguish a difference between the word brave and
courage. Synonyms for brave include bold, intrepid, daring,
dauntless, heroic and fearless. In it origins, however, it more
commonly meant boastful or bullying. The word's origin is the
same as the Latin word brabus which also carries the root
"barbaric." God saw the bravery of the ten thousand who
remained. But he knew that courage was needed and it was a
higher condition of the heart and soul than mere bravery.
Courage has its roots in the Latin word core and was modified
over time by the French language to coeur which is the present
term for "heart." Courage, then means "with heart", and though
it may resemble bravery on the surface, it is quite different.
Bravery can act rashly in spite of what is really going on.
They fear if they stop and think they will lose their nerve.
Courage sees, weighs the risk, and chooses to act out of duty or
faith
Bravado uses anger and adrenaline to mask, deny, or even ignore
prudent fear.
Courage sees what is real, feels real fear, and then chooses to
act courageously, overcoming the fear with action.
Bravado fights for the individual...Courage fights for others.
In Judges 6 and 7 we see Gideon learning, that the Midianites
and the Amalekites are just over the hill. The pressure of
immanent attack is building. Gideon's feeble plans for leading
an army of 32,000 were going down the tubes. Then God said there
were still too many men! He did not reiterate that they must be
culled down again in order for Israel not to be able to take
credit for victory. 10,000 against 135,000 had taken care of
that liability. There was a deeper layer of qualification God
was seeking. With seven years of Midianite oppression fresh in
the memories of these remaining men, they were angry and
humiliated. These guys were ready for action...ready for
revenge! But they were not all soldiers nor were they
disciplined or seasoned by experience. If fearful hearts have
caused the defeat of untold armies, rashness must be a close
second. Hurried tactics without disciplined strategy often
brought devastation to an army.
Bravado is what caused the arrogance of the German army's
eastern invasion into Russia in summer of 1941. It was called
"Operation Barbarossa." It had the same effect upon their war
machine as it did a century and a half earlier when Napoleon in
1812, miscalculated the strength of Russian resistance allied
with the devastating power of a harsh winter. In both cases, the
backbones of their fighting forces were devastated.
What ever you may face as a man right now, you will only win
if you do three things:
1. Look directly at what opposes you without "religious-izing"
or sugarcoating it.
2. Believe that God will fill you with courage and the will and
knowledge of how to fight.
3. Do not do this alone.
"Whatever comes out of these
doors, the only way we will survive is if we stick together."
--Maximus Meridus, Commander of the North, from
Gladiator, scene XV
Art Hobba is the founder of Core 300 and the author of
Called to War: Out of
the stands...Into the Arena, to be released in April of 2010
|
