YOU THE LIONHEART
Proverbs 28:1 NKJV
28 The wicked flee when no one pursues,
But the righteous are bold as a lion.
Richard the Lionheart was the king of England during the 1100s. He received his nickname because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior. He was a key leader during the third Crusade and had success fighting against the Muslims. He commanded his own army at age sixteen, putting down rebellions against his father, Henry the First.
You may think this guy is a million miles away from where I am. At sixteen, I was doing good to drive a car, much less lead an army. But we do have something in common: the ability to be brave and face difficulties. Our verse today tells us of our potential in Christ.
The contrast is the wicked versus the righteous. The wicked being those who are away from God. The Hebrew word means someone who is guilty or in the wrong. We don't typically define ourselves as wicked. That word is reserved for serial killers and people who steal from the elderly. But we can all agree that there have been many times when we sinned, and we knew it. The feelings of guilt are bad enough, but accompanying the guilt is fear. When we have missed the mark, a kinder word for sin, we are not expecting good things to happen to us. When we are not in a good place with God, we have the tendency to feel as if the other shoe is about to drop. We lack confidence with God. This is not a good place to live. And why we are encouraged to run to God when we have sinned and not away from Him. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). Cleansed from unrighteousness means we are once again walking in righteousness before God.
Righteousness is the place we obtain to when we receive Christ as our Lord and become new creations in Him. Look at 2 Corinthians 5:21 and receive that truth for yourself. Jesus took our sins that we might have His righteousness. So righteous is who we are. Now, when we walk in the light of what we know to do, we have confidence with God. Our heart is not condemning us, making us feel guilty. When we have confidence with God, we can better understand our verse for today: "The righteous are as bold as a lion." Now we can say that because of what Jesus has done and because I am doing my best to walk in the light of God's Word: I, drum roll, please, christen myself, fill in your name, the lionheart. A little strange? Maybe. Farfetched? Not so much. We are part of the Kingdom of God Crusade for Christ. Not against people but against the darkness of this world. Helping to see people set free so they might live as bold as a lion.