Values

Courage

Living with love in the face of fear.

Freedom

Living responsibly with strong boundaries.

Simplicity

Living grounded in truth and devotion to priorities.

Courage

Let’s talk about Courage.

It’s not just fearlessness. It’s a commitment to love in the face of fear.

The root of the word courage comes from the Latin word cor which means “heart”.

Courage means living from your heart convictions. For Christ-followers, it means living boldly in the light of the Gospel.

This idea is expressed in 1 John 4:18: “There is no fear in love for perfect love casts out fear…”

As we follow Christ into manhood, we prioritize love. We submit ourselves to the love of Christ which conquers all else, including our own fears.

Courage is one of the core values of Young Man’s Odyssey because without it we are tossed to and fro by waves of foolishness, anger, and fear. With a heart grounded in the love of Christ, we can make decisions out of the positive emotion of love for God and others, instead of the selfish, self-preserving fear that often guides our thinking.

Faced with death and rejection by his own Father, Jesus lowered his shoulder and pushed further into the biting darkness of the Cross. His courage forever secured our freedom and inheritance.

Let’s follow Jesus into manhood and take on courage as a defining value, thereby following the example he set for us. And let’s trust his love to accomplish this in our own hearts.

Freedom

Freedom is found in Christ.

2 Corinthians 3:17 declares, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

Because of Christ’s sacrifice for us, we are free from sin and free from the obligations of the law. We are free from living our lives in an effort to impress God or appease His wrath.

This freedom enables us to live responsible lives in pursuit of God’s glory.

We are free from sin, free from legalism, but this freedom is not a cover for living for ourselves. It enables us to live responsibly for the glory of God and the service of other people.

At the same time, this freedom enables us to live with boundaries.

Our time is not our own, it is under Christ’s lordship, but we are not slaves to the clock.

Our money is not our own, we are stewards of God’s resources, but we seek financial independence and the free creation and spreading of wealth.

Our lives are not our own, we are bought with a price, but there remains no law left to burden us but the command to love (Romans 13:8).

Simplicity

Simplicity. Minimalism. Essentialism.

Call it what you will.

It’s so simple, but often so hard to really live a simple life. Life is constantly complicated.

But Christ calls us to remember the fundamental principles and priorities of life and remain focused on those. He calls us to a light burden and an easy yoke: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

I’ll also steal the words of Henry David Thoreau to further bring this point to life.

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

Thoreau talks about fronting the “essential” facts of life and this is what we seek through the value of Simplicity.

It’s a minimalism of focus, a single-minded pursuit of God and what He has called us to. No doubt that will look like a lot of things, often all at once. We are called to be strong friends, devoted husbands, loving fathers, and more. Life can become complicated when we juggle all these various roles and responsibilities.

At the essence of life though, is the pursuit of God’s heart and service to others. The Westminster Catechism declares that “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”

Such a simple calling, but hardly “easy”.