Resurrecting the Better Part

Valor is a word we don’t hear anymore.

The Oxford Dictionary defines it as “great courage in the face of danger, especially in battle.” But I’m not so sure discretion is always the better part of it though.

Because somewhere along the line, we’ve allowed the significance of valor to be buried right along with all those men who wore it as a badge. Many soldiers fought, suffered and died defending truth and righteousness so that freedom might remain a foundation upon which to continue to build the kingdom our Lord Jesus Christ planted during His earthly ministry.

Some fought physical battles, others spiritual. Some were won, some were lost.

But it’s not so important to keep score. The reasons for defending God’s righteousness are more honorable than the results.

In this day and age, valor is critical for Christ’s disciple to demonstrate. It transcends any semblance of being merely brave, determined or chivalrous. These are certainly desirable attributes, but circumstances today call for more potent adjectives.

Jesus needs men who are valiant, gallant and valorous.

Because the man of valor intuitively understands that cowardice, effeminacy and passivity are transgressions before the Lord Jesus Christ and are wholly incompatible with being His disciple.

Jesus wasn’t a coward just because He was God. It was because He never succumbed to the power of sin as a man like you and me.

Rise up O men of God!

“But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” [Rev. 21:8, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ spoken through His messenger to the apostle John]