Love makes courage

As I reflect on courage, faith and hope, I am reminded of the scripture that describes spiritual warfare- of remaining righteous and strong in troubled and dangerous times. 

Ephesians 6: 13-17
Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

In this passage are some of the words in 1Corinthians 13:4-7 in which Paul describes love. In a time in which followers of Christ were threatened with real swords, and real soldiers, Paul subverts the image of a warrior with the words: peace, salvation, truth, faith, righteousness, and Spirit. He is telling us that love is powerful enough to be our armour, to be our protection and source of action in a threatening time.

 “Love always trusts, always protects, always perseveres.” (1 Cor. 13:7)

This relationship of love to courage and protection is explicit in 1 Thessalonians 5:3 in which the analogy of armour is directly connected to the call of love: 
“..... putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.”

Love is directly responsible for courage.  

Let us hear the call to love.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
(1 Corinthians 13:13)