A Mundane Life Is a Courageous Life

When we think about courageous people, we typically imagine first responders, soldiers, or people who shield children from the bullets of mass shooters. And of course, they are courageous. It takes great courage to risk your life for the sake of another.

But there are other kinds of courage.

In the modern West, most of us won’t be called on to literally risk our lives to save someone else, but we’ll still need the virtue of courage to live well as Christians. A mundane life is a courageous life. It takes courage to share the gospel in a hostile culture. It takes courage to choose a career. It takes courage to make friends. It takes courage to date and marry someone. It takes courage to be a parent. It takes courage to endure daily suffering.

A mundane life is a courageous life, one where each step of the day takes a little act of courage. Some days, it requires a large act of courage even to do what some consider a small task. For some of us, even getting out of bed can be an act of courage when depression or anxiety weighs us down.

What Courage Requires

According to Josef Pieper, a Thomas Aquinas scholar, courage is the act of risking suffering for the sake of the good. It requires vulnerability, which frightens us because our culture has taught us that suffering is inherently bad and must be avoided at all costs. Where there is suffering, the world offers us a product or service to cure, treat, numb, soothe, or solve it.

Courage is the act of risking suffering for the sake of the good.

But suffering is part of life in a fallen world. And according to the apostle Paul, suffering produces perseverance, which leads to character and hope (Rom. 5:3–5). Accepting the reality of suffering and learning to suffer well is part of knowing how to live well as a Christian. And to suffer well means to suffer courageously. In our mundane lives, we must dare to risk suffering for the sake of the good.

What I mean by the “good” is glorifying God and enjoying him forever (Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q&A 1). What that practically looks like in any particular situation will vary. For example, I risk the suffering of a rejection letter (a minor form of suffering) by applying for a job I desire because of the good of being able to glorify God in a new situation, provide for my family and bless others through my work.

Cost of Playing It Safe

Trying to avoid suffering—trying to avoid vulnerability so you don’t risk anything—leaves you timid and inhibited. It feels like you’re protecting yourself from harm, like you’re being careful. In reality, overprotection harms you as much as recklessness does. It harms you by preventing you from experiencing the wonders of the world God has created.

If you don’t try to get a driver’s license, you’ll never experience the joys of freedom on the road. If you don’t try to build friendships, you’ll never have the joy of close friends to rely on. If you never talk to someone you’re interested in romantically, you’ll never get married. If you never submit that poem, or artwork, or song, you’ll never have a chance of getting your work accepted. Life involves risk and vulnerability. It takes courage to enjoy many of the blessings God has given us.

There are many signs that young people are taking fewer risks, that they’re growing more and more inhibited. For example, in a recent study, 58 percent of men aged 18 to 29 agreed with the statement “I am reluctant to ask someone out because I fear being rejected.” Yet 68 percent in that same demographic reported they desired to get married. The desire is there, but fear of being vulnerable makes younger men inhibited.

The problem isn’t only with young men. Young women are lonely too. In another survey, 74 percent of young women and 64 percent of young men reported they hadn’t dated or had only dated a few times in the past year.

How Inhibition Takes Root

While many people are tempted to blame our broader cultural decline of sociability on smartphones and technology—and there’s some truth to that connection—we also need to look at the failure to cultivate the virtue of courage.

Our technology is perfectly designed to accommodate our inhibitions. They feed us entertainment and don’t demand anything serious or challenging of us. They invite us to relax and accept our loneliness, instead of stirring us up to love and good works (see Heb. 10:24). They give us a sense of connection with others without the deep, meaningful, face-to-face relationships we need—relationships that demand vulnerability.

Inhibition, as I’m using the term here, refers to a fear of acting, a fear of taking responsibility for your God-given agency in the world; a sense that the world is a dangerous place and you’re better off folding in on yourself; an inward focus; an anxiety about exposure to the world; a fear of failure; a lack of courage. This inhibition can manifest in different ways. One of the most obvious would be the choice to avoid face-to-face interactions and live in online worlds, whether that be video games, social media, AI, Reddit, or YouTube.

But inhibition doesn’t have to be that obvious. It can also look like the choice to bury yourself in your schoolwork or job instead of asking someone out on a date or out for coffee as a friend. It can look like the choice to make your parents drive you places instead of learning to drive yourself and risking failing or crashing or accepting responsibility. It might look like the choice to stay in bed rather than get up and face the day.

The point is that inhibition exists whenever we’re faced with something that gives us an anxiety or fear that overwhelms us to the point where we cease to act. And contemporary people are increasingly inhibited, especially in relationships.

Courage and Risk

How can the virtue of courage help us overcome inhibition? The first thing to remember is that the goal of courage isn’t to risk for the sake of risk. That’s called recklessness, and it’s not a virtue. Being a daredevil isn’t virtuous; it’s vain and foolhardy.

Inhibition exists whenever we are faced with something that gives us an anxiety or fear that overwhelms us to the point where we cease to act.

The whole point of being a person of courage is to glorify God with your life. Virtues point us to who we were created to be before God, our telos. We were created to glorify God and enjoy him forever. And that involves acting courageously in the face of possible and actual suffering.

We don’t act virtuously because we need to earn God’s favor but because God already loves us thanks to his Son’s sacrificial work on the cross. That sacrifice redeems us and makes us able to turn from sin and live as we were created to live.

When we choose to live courageously, we accept that God has given us agency for his glory. And our duty before him is to act on that agency. In any given situation where we feel afraid because of potential harm, we should consider what the “good” is and whether it’s prudent and just to act (the virtues all relate to each other). Then we must take the risk, be vulnerable, and act courageously.

Courage Through the Fear

Courage doesn’t demand that you’re fearless, only that you act resolutely. You can do hard things while feeling afraid. “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear,” 1 John 4:18 says. “For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”

No punishment or humiliation or judgment ultimately stands against us. Christ paid for our sins. We’re free to strike out with our agency and explore this creation he has made for his glory without shame or fear.

One of the best ways you can teach your mind not to fear is by doing hard things while being afraid. Doing that is practicing being someone redeemed in Christ. When you allow fear to take control, you teach yourself to be inhibited. But when you act courageously and do hard things even though you feel afraid, knowing it glorifies God, you teach your mind to be brave.

Will you get hurt? Yes. If you act courageously, you’ll get hurt. But overprotecting yourself will also hurt you—it’ll prevent you from the joys that God has created for you to walk in. The good news is that God’s grace is sufficient for us each morning. When you struggle to get out of bed, when you struggle to talk to someone, when you struggle to endure suffering, when you struggle to apply yourself—whatever your inhibition may be, God’s grace is sufficient for you.

You can do hard things, courageous things. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you (Phil. 4:13). You may not be a first responder or soldier, but you’re called to a life of courage, to hard conversations, vulnerable introductions, and risky applications. And you can rise to those occasions through Christ and for God’s glory.