Be Strong and Courageous! Do Not be Passive When Competing Against Your Opponent! Ready Passivity is a characteristic of someone who holds back and lets others act. To be passive is to abstain from resistance and yield to external influences. Passivity can stem from good or bad foundations and can bring positive or negative results. The Bible gives examples of those who exhibited both good and bad passivity. Set Passivity is appropriate when we are being submissive to the will of God or to our coaches on the sports field. Jesus demonstrated this kind of passivity on the night He was arrested. Rather than allow His disciples to fight for Him, He willingly submitted to the abuse of His captors. “When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23). Jesus Christ, the Lord of all, stood in a courtroom, bound with ropes, and allowed Himself to be mocked, beaten, and insulted by men—and He did nothing to stop them. He had earlier told His disciples, “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 6:23). Jesus’ passive behavior had a deeper significance, and His inaction was actually quite active: the Lord was actively giving Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the world (Galatians 1:4; 1 John 2:2). To fight back or defend Himself would have been to thwart the plan of God (Matthew 6:24). Jesus’ passivity was within the will of God and therefore right. However, there is no place for passivity when God or our coaches have called us to action. Joshua had to take action to root out the evil in Israel (Joshua 7); there came a day when Barak had to mobilize the army to combat the Canaanites (Judges 4). The apostle Paul was one of the most active proponents of the gospel, yet, while in prison, he asked the Ephesian church to pray that he would have boldness when he spoke about Jesus (Ephesians 6:19). Boldness is the opposite of passivity. Boldness moves forward while passivity holds back. Boldness takes action while passivity refuses to engage. While your coaches teach you to be obedient to them and to the team goals, they also teach you about not accepting what the opponent is bringing against you. To be Strong and Courageous! In basketball, that could mean fighting for an offensive rebound or chasing down a fast break. In football, that may mean fighting for that extra yard or fighting through a block. An example of this in our daily lives is also when we are faced with sin situations. For example, if one of your teammates is sending you and others inappropriate material or are even passing out the answers to a test. Do you call sin out on behalf of yourself and your teammates? If so, that is love and that is having your teammates back. Or do you shrink and try to ignore the sin that is occurring right in front of you? If so, that is cowardly. You know it and God knows it. However, when you are strong and courageous and call out sin for what it is, your teammates can see that in you. It can also please God. The instructions throughout Scripture rarely require passivity. They call us to take action. We are commanded to put away passivity and do these things: • pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17) • preach the word (2 Timothy 4:2) • encourage one another (Hebrews 3:13) • love one another (1 Peter 1:22) • flee from sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 6:18) • honor parents (Ephesians 6:2) • “put to death . . . the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5) Obedience of God’s commands often requires us to leave our comfort zones and speak out, make a choice, or move toward the goal God has set. Jesus’ last instruction to His followers was to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19–20). If the disciples had chosen passivity, Christianity might have died quickly and none of us would have heard about Jesus. You are the beneficiary of countless people who have been BOLD! Remember, God is not passive. He sent His only Son to redeem us (John 3:16–18). He is a defender of widows and orphans (Psalm 68:5). He fights the battles for His children (Exodus 14:14; Deuteronomy 1:30; Nehemiah 4:20). When we could do nothing to save ourselves, Jesus came “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). We are called to know Him, love Him, and be like Him (Mark 12:29–30; Romans 8:29). Being Bold against sin, our common opponent, for us and for our teammates is being like Him. The cool thing is we are never alone. God has given us a helper in this! “If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. John 14:15-17 Go 1) Ask God what areas of your life have you had the opportunity to be BOLD in the past but did not do so. 2) Ask God to teach you why you were not BOLD during those times and what you can learn from them. 3) Ask God to highlight what areas of your life you should be BOLD in. 4) Ask God for the strength and power to be BOLD for Him! Overtime “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:7-9