How to Develop the Courage to Live by Your Convictions

This weekend's passage is one you might be familiar with. It’s the story of how three young men defy a king’s command to worship an idol and, as a result, are thrown into a fiery furnace. These three young men have the courage to follow their convictions all the way to their deaths. 

As you read this narrative, it seems to be a story about courage and convictions and a story that offers an example to follow. 

But it’s actually much more than that. It’s a story carefully crafted and told so as to get to the core of their convictions and to get to the core of their courage. 

It’s not just an example to follow, it’s a study on how to develop the courage to live by our convictions. 

You might be facing a challenge to violate your convictions right now, and you’re failing and it’s eating you up inside. 

Where are you lacking courage to face hard challenges to your faith, to living your faith and standing by your convictions no matter what the consequences? 

When these three young men in our story today violate the order to worship the idol, they know the consequence and the consequence is death— a painful death. 

You might say, “Yeah, I get it, but I’m just not that tough. I know my consequences aren’t anything like that so all you’re going to do is make me feel more guilty than I already feel.” 

You may think that, but that’s not where I’m going this weekend in the sermon. I want to show you how to develop the courage you need.  

That's what the sermon is about--how to develop the courage to live by your convictions.

Hope to see you this weekend and consider inviting a friend.

Photo by Aarón Blanco Tejedor on Unsplash

This is Us

We are the church, whether we are gathered or scattered--each one of us, a part of the body of Christ, wherever we go, whatever we do.

So, where can you find us, and what are we doing? 

"Exposure to the extreme brokenness and suffering in our world completely shifted my worldview at a crucial time in my life." That was Five Oaker Anna Lehn's reflection on her experience as part of the Apex program where she spent several weeks working with ReachGlobal missionaries in India the summer after graduating from high school. (ReachGlobal is the missions arm of our denomination.) "Being completely immersed in a foreign culture and spending a significant amount of time in a different part of the world allowed me to learn about the person God made me to be while serving and loving his people. The Apex program taught me about other diverse people groups, religions, and cultures through impactful experiences that will continue to influence me for many years. My eyes were opened to the incredible diversity of God’s creation and how desperately needed the Gospel is around the world." Anna is now a student at Wheaton College in Illinois.