Whenever you come across a human attribute that is universally held in honor, you are touching the Imago Dei. Made in the image of God, we have an innate appreciation for what is like Him and therefore what He holds in high esteem. When we see those attributes displayed in another image-bearer, something stirs within us, an awakening to how we know we’re meant to be. This is eminently true of bravery. Few attributes found in mankind inspire us as much as bravery. It’s as though an immaterial breeze fills the sails of our souls as we behold an act of bravery. I would like to look at bravery with you for a bit and show you why I think this is, and why I’m convinced it testifies to the Christian God.
I recently watched a movie in which the main character learns of his certain and soon approaching death, but he doesn’t know just why at first. For most of the movie, he seeks out ways to escape this destiny and preserve his life. But eventually, he’s given insight into why he must die – to save a child from death. Suddenly he accepts his imminent demise, and the loss of all his hopes and dreams, not because he no longer desires them, nor no longer wishes to live, but because something other than them and his own life is of greater value to him. At that point, he becomes what we all recognize as brave. The immediate effect of this scene on me as the viewer was an almost physical swelling of my chest, a palpable strengthening of every virtue in me. I’m sure you’ve experienced the same thing as you’ve witnessed some act of bravery, whether in real life or in some fictional story. The bravery of another emboldens us, not just to be brave, but to reach for all those characteristics most associated with Christ Himself. Why is this?
I have mentioned many times in these posts that the truly eternal things are the ones that we can’t see, and bravery, more than any other attribute testifies to them all. The reason should become apparent once you consider what bravery really is, and when we’re apt to see it. Bravery is the defense of all those unseen things. We understand this intuitively as we see the soldiers storming the beaches and cliffs of Normandy. We understand they had no interest in sand or stone, nor even perhaps for the French people who dwelt just beyond those shores. No, they were fighting for something that can’t be touched or seen. They were fighting for liberty, yes, but we also understand that when we say liberty, we know it’s just one facet of the greater whole; they were fighting for good, and evil was opposing them. The reason why bravery so clearly testifies to all that’s good is that it’s only observed when those things are contested and must be fought for.
Faith, hope, and love, the three things that remain are most clearly displayed in bravery. Faith, because the brave fight for what can’t be seen. Hope, because they wouldn’t fight without the expectation of obtaining it. And love by that they are willing to lay down their lives that the object of their affections might survive. We see the inverse trinity within the coward’s heart as well. For faith he feeds on doubt, for hope he fosters dread, and for love, we see his self-preservation leads him to that cold stillness of apathy. Nothing is more valuable than his survival, and nothing outside himself is worth the risk or exertion it might require to obtain it. Patrick Henry’s query of “Is life so dear,” is answered by the coward with a tremulous “yes.”
This is, of course, what separates bravery from mere risk-taking or derring-do. There may be much danger to life and limb in the path the brave will take, but the danger’s not the goal. It is simply the cost they are willing to pay for glory. Not their own glory, but glory itself, something supremely valuable to them. This brings us to the next distinguishing characteristic of bravery, it is humble and selfless. Where the daredevil seeks the glory that will accrue to him for the accomplishment of his perilous feat or the adrenaline-laced excitement he may reap, the brave seem never to recognize that they are worthy of glory at all, and often feel more fear than thrill in the execution of their deeds. But they are captured by something bigger than themselves and are internally propelled towards greatness, despite their natural strengths and weaknesses. And so they always seem surprised by all the attention heaped upon them.
Can you not see from all these things that bravery is a most distinctly Christian attribute. Not that the pagan or atheist cannot be brave, but that when they are so, they are testifying to things that their own worldviews cannot explain. No other god has taken on the weakness of human flesh and walked alone into the darkened den of all his enemies. Bravery may be exhibited in the adherents of a thousand other faiths, but it is never found within their god. And the fool who casts away his life for nothing more than the “oughts” of random matter, has really only died for himself since there could be no true value beyond what he ascribes. No, bravery testifies to Him who, “for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb. 12:2) This is the One all bravery points us to, and each courageous deed we witness wafts another hint of that sweet sacrifice.
