Conviction Often Leads To Courage

My reading took me to Acts 23 yesterday and what I read got me to thinking...yes again. I think too much, is what you're thinking right? Anyway, the previous chapter ended with Paul preparing to address a mob, in Jerusalem, who wanted him dead. His friends had pleaded him not to go. They all knew what awaited him in Jerusalem. And yet he went. As Paul's speech is delivered I got a sense of something that struck my heart to the core. Paul's choices of courage were not a result of a random desire to leave his mark on the world. He believed in Jesus. He believed in the power of God. He had seen what that power had done in his life and he was convinced that everyone needed to know about this power. He had been convicted of sin and sentenced to a life of death, until the love of God flooded his life and transformed him into a man of passion for God. His heart had been changed. His heart to kill and destroy was now a heart set on life and restoration. His thoughts had been to squelch the message of Jesus. They were now thoughts of keeping the message alive at any cost. I have often wished I was a woman of courage and wondered how one becomes such a person. I now realize it has nothing to do with my desire to be courageous, it has more to do with what I passionately believe. My passionate belief about something will lead my actions regardless of my fears and hesitations.