I watched the remake of True Grit over the weekend. Aside from the blood and gore, rattlesnakes (one of the first times I've had a true revulsion to snakes!), and strange ending, I found it an interesting—and thought provoking—film. It make me wonder what "true grit" really is... for Rooster Cogbern, it was being brave enough to stand and fight, tough enough to survive basically any opposition, and hard enough to kill when he found it necessary. He was "one of those men" who was able to earn both respect and disgust at the same time from his friends and enemies alike. That was true grit from Rooster's point of view. But is there another type of true grit? What is true grit from a Christian's perspective? Is there such a thing? Imagine, for a minute, a man whose one pair of clothing had been nearly worn out for the past year. His beard and hair—both of which are long, greasy, and covered in dust—make young women and small children wary as he walks past. His smell and appearance probably don't help much—you don't want to guess how long it had been since he last showered. His face is weathered by wind and his skin is dark brown from the sun's bold beat. Basically, he looks like he's homeless, constantly wandering, and never finding shelter. His arms bare criss-crossed scars up and down them, the worst peeking out from the tops of his sleeves. You can tell that his shoulders bear gouges, months old, but still unhealed. Two-inch wide scars encircle his wrists and ankles, signs that he had been chained to a prison wall at one time. This is a man of true grit—and not the same "true grit" as Rooster Cogbern's. This is a man who wrote, "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain," (Phil. 1:21) and, "I bare on my body the marks of Jesus" (Galatians 6:17). This is a man who has lived off of nothing but prayers and faith for years on end. This is a man who has been imprisoned, tortured, betrayed, starved, sleepless—all for the sake of the gospel, and the people he was taking it to.
This is the apostle Paul.
Paul was a man of true grit—willing to die for the One who died for him, ready to proclaim the gospel in any and all ways possible. He lived to serve the people of his time, to encourage and build the early church. Unlike Cogbern, he wasn't ready to kill; he was ready to be killed. Paul was calm in the confidence that life—especially life devoted to Christ—was worth living and that death was worth dying. It didn't matter if that life was a life continuously lived in and out of prison, or that that death was one that probably hurt quite a bit. He wasn't fearful when he was met by his torturers, but instead rejoiced that his suffering was for the Lord. This is the definition of true grit. A Christian with true grit is one with a servant attitude, a fearless heart, and an uncompromising, faithful, love for the Lord... which leads to one more question:
Do you have True Grit?
