A Whole Street of Houses, Stirred With A Spoon

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“ And by this time they were come up to the great iron gates in front of the house; and Tom stared through them at the rhododendrons and azaleas, which were all in flower; and then at the house itself, and wondered how many chimneys there were in it, and how long ago it was built, and what was the man’s name that built it, and whether he got much money for his job? These last were very difficult questions to answer. For Harthover had been built at ninety different times, and in nineteen different styles, and looked as if somebody had built a whole street of houses of every imaginable shape, and then stirred them together with a spoon.” —The Water-Babies, by Charles Kingsley. Ch.1 (1863)

We Do Not Lose Heart! Courageous Spirituality (Introduction)

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"Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart . . . Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day." (2 Corinthians 4:1, 16 NASB)

Since nobody does it better, the Lion has the floor:



It’s been said that “fear” has two meanings. The first is “Forget Everything And Run.” That’s how it is sometimes. We see courageous people do courageous acts, but one little thing happens to us and we crumble. The second is “Face Everything And Rise.” This is courage. 

Webster defines courage as “the ability to do something frightful, difficult or dangerous.” In other words, courage is not the absence of fear but the mastery of it. The great Phillips Brooks preached: “Oh, do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks.”

The last series of posts explored True Spirituality through 2 Corinthians 3--where true spirituality comes from and what it looks like. We even explored the question about how the world is impacted by True Spirituality. Our new series through 2 Corinthians 4 will help learn what one actually DOES with true spirituality. How do we live it out in a world that has us playing the flinching game, filled with so many “jumps?” How do we live truly spiritual lives courageously?

If God’s Spirit has written on your heart, take courage! 
Stay tuned! 

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