My Favorite Christian Movie: COURAGEOUS | What It Teaches

I have several Christian movies that inspire me, but one that I could watch constantly is Courageous from the Kendrick Brothers. They actually just re-released the movie last fall, calling it Courageous Legacy—it’s still the same, but they added some content and it’s edited better. My roommate at the time and I went to see it twice in theaters, and she’s not even religious, but to my surprise, she loved it, too. And that’s not because it’s one of those “Christian” movies with the actual Christian part toned down enough to appeal to the mass audience—far from.

The Kendrick Brothers, one of whom stars in the movie, are known for many great movies, like Facing the Giants and War Room. I really enjoy them, but this one is my favorite, even though it’s a lot heavier and more sad than what they typically make. That might deter some people, but personally, I appreciate it, just because life is heavy, and if I had a critique of their movies, it would be that sometimes they seem to rely heavily on God’s miracles and everything getting solved in extraordinary ways. It’s not that I don’t believe that happens; it’s just that a lot of times, that’s not always the reality, and I appreciate when stories speak to that and still encourage us to have faith. This movie does an excellent job of that, and it’s actually very funny at times, too. My roommate and I developed so many inside jokes with it that I still cherish.

You can look the movie up if you’re interested, and I’ll attempt to provide a summary without spoilers now so we’re all on the same page with the thematic content of the movie: it follows the lives of several guys, all fathers, and most of them are police officers. After a tragedy strikes the main character, who’s played by Alex Kendrick, it opens his eyes about the type of father he’s been, and he makes a new commitment to honoring God through honoring and building up his family. True to the title, the movie touches on themes of godly leadership and masculinity, responsibility, courage, honor, mercy, justice, and integrity. It is very bold and biblical and weaves it all through an entertaining, emotional, and suspenseful story; I think its execution is amazing, and all the characters are done so well.

So the obvious themes examine the social problems in our society of fatherless sons and the role God wants men to play in leading their families, but that’s not to say that’s all that can be learned from the movie. That’s a big, beautiful part of it, but there are so many other things I love about it that have inspired and encouraged me, which I want to briefly go over. Then, I highly recommend you watch this movie. I don’t think it will disappoint.

The movie reminds us of what matters.

In the opening scene, one of the men who’s known for being pretty godly right from the get-go is involved in this action scene, and after that, he meets Alex’s character and his partner. They’re more like your “typical guys” in that they’re pretty average, character-wise. They care about their families, but they don’t really go out of their way, either, and it’s just clear their perspective and faith aren’t where this other guy’s is. When they meet, it’s right after a scary situation has taken place, and they have a dim attitude about it, while this other character is undeterred, focused on the good that happened through it all. This sounds vague because I’m trying not to actually describe the whole movie, but it’s not that sort of cheesy positivity I feel some Christians get stereotyped with. We all probably can envision that—something terrible’s just happened and someone just goes, oh, but at least there’s this small, trivial thing that’s okay, but this actually illustrates the opposite.

I think most people, actually, get hung up on the small and trivial in situations, magnifying that as the central problem, that they neglect the big and meaningful they still have. In focusing on what has gone wrong, they forget the big things that they still have, like family. He just so simply says he’s still having a good day because of that, and I think really, if more of us learned to think that way, we would be a lot happier and more productive.

Part of being a man, but obviously necessary for all of us, is taking responsibility, and when we understand what Jesus has done for us, we really have to ask ourselves: what is holding us back?

This is another incredible theme during the middle of the movie between the godly guy I mentioned above and one of the younger guys, who’s made some bad decisions in his life. He gets to a point where he feels guilty and knows he doesn’t want to be a bad guy, but he’s also reluctant to accept faith the way this man has and begin facing what he’s done to amend his ways. The older guy is not afraid to share his faith or be blunt with him, flat out sharing the Gospel with him and then asking if he understands it. When the younger man says he does, he asks that question: what is holding you back? It gets to a point where the young guy can’t say that anything is, which finally allows him to start doing the right things.

I bring this up because I think so many of us can get stuck like he did. We know Jesus, or so we think, and we believe in Him and what He’s done, but when we hear others talking about Him and obeying Him, it just makes us feel guilty because we haven’t really surrendered to Him and aren’t ready to. We’d rather live with the guilt to avoid the hard decisions we know He’s asking us to make. It can be scary to really trust Him, knowing that it requires a lot of “dying to yourself” in the process (Galatians 2:20; 5:24). But I think that question is so important. When we know what He’s done for us, and we know He’s done it out of love rather than to make us feel guilty and wants our obedience to experience His best rather than mere religion, we have no choice but to let His Spirit start cleaning up our lives. Growth is painful, but what’s more painful is constantly living in your own sin. You may not see it because you just get used to it, but it’s not until you move forward that you really understand you were in a prison.

So take that leap of faith. He loves you and He wants you to have life at its best, but He needs your trust and obedience to bring about those great plans for your life. It’s hard to address our sin and admit our shortcomings, but He promises to help us and heal us out of it. So if it’s fear holding you back, let Him take it away. If it’s laziness, let Him motivate you to see you’re missing out by staying where you are. You can have better. If it’s mistrust, let Him prove His faithfulness and increase your faith—you have to do the hard things first.

Regardless of what kind of earthly father you have, we all have a heavenly Father who is perfect and will give us everything we need.

One thing I appreciate a ton about this movie is that it doesn’t make you feel like crap if you didn’t have a good relationship with your father—or one at all. Even for those of us who did, our fathers are still human and therefore imperfect, which means there are things only God can teach and provide us with. The characters all have vastly different walks of life, and one of my favorite things is how the guy who I said seems the godliest is the one who didn’t have a father at all—his father left and died long before he ever got to meet him. Understandably, this caused a ton of hurt and dysfunction in his life, which he said almost led him down a dark path, but he had a mentor in his community that taught him about God.

I appreciate this because it shows that even if your parents dropped the ball, you can still find your identity, strength, worth, and life in God. You can heal and go on to raise a godly family of your own with Him at the center, and you can reach out to others who are in similar situations in need of help and guidance. All of us should strive to do that regardless of our family relationships because if we know Him, then we know what life is about and how we can be saved and set free from anything.

The most important, noble thing is to stand for God, even if you’re standing alone.

That is actually referencing a quote from the movie I love. As someone who has felt very alone standing for God, there’s this line the main character tells his son in the movie that has brought so much encouragement to me: “What I want for you is that you trust Him and that you stand for Him, even if it means you’re standing alone.” When you think about how He is Who we’re made for and that life truly revolves around Him and has no hope or meaning apart from Him, there is nothing more important than following Him and being close to Him all the days of your life. The more you abide in Him, the more He abides in you, and the more of His goodness and likeness you experience (John 15:5).

This will bring trials and conflicts because we live in a world that is hostile towards and rebellious against its Creator, so other people may not always stand with us. That is a very real, painful reality, but it is more painful to be without Him. As if that alone isn’t enough, one of His very special promises I’ve always cherished is when He says whatever you lose for His sake, He will repay you with (Matthew 19:29). If you read that entire passage, it says He will repay you a hundred times as much AND you will inherit eternal life! God seriously stops at nothing to give us EVERYTHING. How can that not move us to respond with wholehearted obedience? Obviously, we will always struggle in this life, but He is always helping us live godlier lives for Him. It’s all about abiding in Him, as John 15:5 says.

Don’t just read this post and agree with me, or watch this movie and agree with it, and have no resolve to live it out.

When the movie is talking about these men’s commitment to honoring God as fathers, one of the lines that always stuck with me, clear back when I was eight and first saw this movie, was how he said, “Many will hear this and mock it. Others will hear it and agree with it, but have no resolve to live it out.” That stuck with me so much that I even remember putting those words into one of my first written stories. It’s something I still stand by so firmly today.

I want to be very clear about something. There are problems in the world because of people who oppose God and love themselves and their sinful cravings. Yeah, they create big problems, and they’ll always be there. But what I’m learning creates so many more problems are all the people who listen with no resolve.

We don’t need Christians who want to keep their faith to themselves—it was never meant for that. We don’t need Christians who want to go to church because it makes them feel good but apart from that, living it out is too hard and inconvenient. And we don’t need people who want to spout things about God in their social media bios, claiming to be His devoted followers, while they’re too busy trying to rack up as many likes as they can on their latest bikini photo. It’s not enough to hear the Word and agree with it; what are you doing with it? God is far more interested in whether you’re doing what you hear.

In looking up the verses I wanted to cite with that, the translation from the Message popped up, and it does a great job of really spelling out what these verses are saying, so I’m going to quote it:

Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like. But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the free life!—even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action. Anyone who sets himself up as ‘religious’ by talking a good game is self-deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.

James 1:23-27 MSG

Let. God. Change. Your life. Yes, it can be painful, but do you really think you’re getting the short end of the stick? He has given us far more than we ever deserved, and even saying that is a massive understatement. To know Him is to love Him, and to love Him is to obey Him, meaning that you act in unselfish love towards those around you and do what He’s calling you to do.

If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.

Jesus in John 14:15-21 ESV

If you watch this movie, let me know what you think! It is a heavy, weighty movie with pertinent, urgent themes, but it also has a lightheartedness that is funny and joyous to watch. I wanted to write about this movie because last fall, they re-released it, and it was a childhood dream come true for me because—without spoiling it—the new ending gave the final closure I’d always longed for as a kid. It’s definitely worth your time to see and think about.

Also, for the single girls reading this like me, there’s a whole other lesson from this movie I’m doing a post about in a few weeks to follow up on this. God used this movie to encourage me in a season where I also felt upset about that, and I want to share that with you, too, so stay tuned. Thanks for reading and let me know if you look into the movie!