Always of Good Courage
By W. A. S.
THE Standard Revision renders 2 Cor. 5:6: “Being therefore always of good courage.” The apostle had just been giving a list of trying experiences,—“pressed on every side,” “perplexed,” “pursued,” and “smitten down;” surely his courage did not depend upon fair times and favoring circumstances. He looked not on the things seen,—that would have disheartened the boldest,—but upon the things not seen. Though the mortal tabernacle of flesh should perish amid trouble and persecution, the apostle knew that he had a hope in God, eternal in the heavens, and that this mortal would be swallowed up of life. Furthermore, he knew that God had “wrought us for this very thing.” Therefore he was “always of good courage.” A living hope is the secret of courage. When one knows the forgiveness of sin, and that it is all right between the heart and God, no hard experiences without can dismay. And there is everything in being “always of good courage, ” no matter what the outward conditions. Paul might be in prison, condemned to death, he could see unstable teachers rising up in the church to spoil his work, all that were in Asia had forsaken him,—but Paul simply knew in his heart that God’s word was sure, that the gospel work begun would go forward, that nothing could frustrate God’s purpose. Therefore we find him “always of good courage.” We know that this advent movement is of God, and that nothing can turn it aside. Let us keep our own sins forgiven, and our eyes upon the eternal realities, and none of the experiences or sights of these perilous days can take away courage from our hearts. The world is full of people who are defeated because discouraged. It is a sin for which to seek forgiveness. God forgives discouragement by putting courage in the place of it. Every soul of us may be “always of good courage,” for courage is the gift of God. W. A. S.