It is a funny thing about courage, how it in fact can be contagious. This was Paul’s experience while sitting in a Roman prison.
Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear. (Phil 1.12-14)
One would think, on the surface of it, that putting someone in chains would discourage everyone else from doing what that enchained guy was doing. But it seems it all depends on the guy in chains.
If the prisoner is despondent, bewailing his fate, and crying out that he will never do that terrible thing again, then, sure, no one else will want to do what he was doing. But if that guy, instead, glories in the fact that he is in chains for a good cause, that he is happy to suffer for his beliefs, then those watching him will think twice, and will consider that perhaps what has happened to him is so bad after all.
This happened to Paul and the Roman Christians around him (not all of them, but most of them); as they looked at his suffering, and how he handled it with courage and endurance, they themselves took courage and chose to continue to proclaim the goodness of God in Christ.
We have seen this happen in this field as well. Our Christian friends were being fiercely persecuted by many of those around them, but they continued steadfast in the faith, and did not waver in their resolve to continue following Jesus. As they were undergoing this trial, many of their children were watching them, wondering what it was that gave them this courage. These young men began attending the worship services at the church, and then they too decided that this Jesus was worth following and suffering for.
We all know that fear can debilitate us; it can paralyze us and stop us from doing the right thing that we know ought to be done. I have been prevented from doing the right thing because of my fear too many times to count. But when I have seen the courage of others, it has encouraged and inspired me to carry on and do the right thing myself.
Things to make us fearful abound, in Africa, and wherever. But so are there plenty of examples of courage around us. Oh God, help us to look and see those examples, and to be the example of courage for others.
J & S on Mission 