Brilliant thinking is rare, but courage is in even shorter supply than genius.

— Peter Theil

Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality.

— C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, 161.

I think the greatest thing that we have learned in the wake of the events of 2020 was not so much that our rulers and authorities, princes and presidents, opinion makers and media moguls, faculty members and college presidents, and all the rest of that lot, have all gone barking mad. We already had an inkling of this prior to 2020, though it did come to the forefront. I don’t think the greatest thing we learned is that they lie, cheat, steal, point and shriek. I think the greatest thing we learned is what we learned about ourselves. We learned that our idol was safety. We learned just how risk averse we really are. We learned just how comfortable in the way things are we have become. We learned that, despite our protest to the contrary, we are quite content to go along to get along. In other words, we lack daring. We lack courage.

Though many of us would deny this, we have let the winsomeness litany win over our hearts and minds. Though many of us would deny this, we have let the business model, and its counting the cost, rule the day. Though many of us would deny this, we have made hope our strategy instead of letting the hope that is within us spur us into enacting real strategy and tactics.

How do we capture again the daring that is needed but is in such short supply? How do we embrace the difficulty that we face with a smile instead of making a bout face? How do we pursue excellence in the face of cultural homogenization?

It doesn’t matter how much of a genius you are if your genius falters when pushed. It does not matter how much you understand if your understanding folds under pressure. It does not matter how much you know if your knowledge collapses when threatened. What we have been given in the Scriptures, The Book of Concord, the orthodox Lutheran fathers, the history of the church, the liturgy is extremely valuable. We know this.

The point of testing is this: We must treat it as something valuable. We must defend it. Fight for it. Stand up for it. Cling to it. Be jealous for it. A lot of people throughout history even up to this day have sacrificed so that we can have it. And they passed it on to us with the expectation that we, too, would make sacrifices to keep it and hand it on to others.

And so the first step is to admit that we have not been jealous (zealous) for the Lord and what He has given. And the second is like it: Courage, dear heart. That is, the next thing you’re afraid to do, whatever that may be, do it. And little by little, what was once in short supply will be built up over time. The Lord is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. Not just as a place for retreat but as the forward operating base to jump into action.