Living A Valiant Life
“Be alert and stand in the faith; be valiant; be strong.” 1 Corinthians 16:13
Men in first-century Corinth found themselves surrounded by a promiscuous and materialistic culture that challenged their integrity at every turn. Pride, sexual immorality, and extravagant indulgence were the hallmarks of that important Greek city, and the members of the church were struggling to rise above the pettiness and licentiousness that defined the broader culture.
The apostle Paul’s instruction to those dear believers is instructive for us in the twenty-first century. After allotting the bulk of his first letter to chastising the church for its arrogance and sexual sin, he did not conclude with rejection or by directing them to uproot and cloister themselves out of the culture’s reach. Rather, he urged them to renounce the apathy and passivity that self-gratification engenders, and to instead embrace vigilance, courage, and strength – attributes that Christ Himself modeled.
In short, Paul exhorted the men of the Corinthian church to be men of valor. “Valor,” as defined by Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary, is “strength of mind or spirit that enables a person to encounter danger with firmness.“ The real dangers men and women face in our sexualized society are not going away, and to live as a disciple of Jesus is to live alert to those dangers and to overcome them through the strength of the Spirit and the Word.
Importantly, Paul follows that exhortation with an instruction to do everything in love (1 Corinthians 16:14). Our valor is ineffective if it is not crowned with a love that honors our spouse, protects our children, and engages with community in the faith for the sake of encouragement and accountability. Perhaps Paul was implying to us all that to live a valiant life is to love valiantly – a message that resounds each time we look to the Cross.