I am not a courageous person—not by nature.  When people compliment me for how bold I seem about things that are important to me, I try to explain, “I’m actually very shy!”—but they never seem to believe it.  The last guy I said that to gave me a funny look and stepped back in shock.  But it’s true!

When I was a kid, I wouldn’t even talk to strangers—I would hide behind my mom.  I was often even too shy to sing in Sunday school.  I get more nervous than most people I know about going new places and meeting new people.  By nature, I am a shy, timid, fearful and cowardly person.

Why do I insist on telling you this?  Because I despise how people categorize me in order to convince themselves that they do not need to step out, stand up, speak as God says in His Word that we should.  We aren’t offered two choices when we become a Christian—the extreme, radical, lonely narrow road and the safe, easy, discomfort-free road.  We are only shown one way—the narrow way Jesus walked before us.

Following Jesus takes courage.  So, with everything I’ve just told you, why/how on earth do I follow Him?  In every way, courage is a gift.  But it’s not a gift, like, “Poof!  You are the embodiment of courage!”  It is a gift, like wisdom and patience, that we must learn.

You see, we should ask God for courage.  But that’s not enough.  We must also step out in faith.  We must also obey in all the hard, terrifying, impossible things He calls us to do.  God calls us to be faithful—to step out in faith.  I wish God would just transform me—flip a switch—and make me unafraid and fully courageous once and for all.  But that’s not how God has worked with me.  Even with my salvation, I must work it out with “fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12), though it is fully a gift.

So let me encourage you: We serve the same God—the same God that Peter the disciple served, who was so cowardly he denied Christ, but who also stepped out on the stormy sea and walked on water.  Never once has there been a time that I have stepped out in faith, and He did not take my hand—even when I took my eyes from Him, and in my doubt began to sink, I cried out to Him, and He took hold of me (Matthew 14:28-33).   The same God who commanded, enabled, comforted, forgave, and empowered Peter will do likewise with you if you will but let Him.

“Don’t think about your faith, or you will become despondent; but think about God’s faithfulness, and you will not be disappointed.”

–Hudson Taylor

Step out—follow Him, friend.

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