Encounters With Jesus Uzorak

Don't Lose Heart  

In the movie Braveheart, there’s a powerful moment where Robert the Bruce is talking with his leprous father with tears clouding his eyes. After betraying William Wallace (Mel Gibson’s character) on the battlefield at Falkirk, Robert is now laden with guilt.

He tells his father, “Men follow me, because if they don’t, I’ll throw them off of my land and starve their wives and children. Those men who bled the ground red at Falkirk fought for William Wallace. He fights for something that I never had. And I took it from him when I betrayed him. I saw it in his face on the battlefield, and it’s tearing me apart.”

He stands there looking as if he’s just sold his soul. His father, trying to somehow reassure his son, says, “All men betray. All men lose heart.”

“I don’t want to lose heart!” Robert shouts, rivers of tears flowing down his face. “I want to believe as he does.”

For me it’s perhaps the most powerful moment in this classic movie. There’s something about young Bruce’s bitter words of remorse that hit me deeply. I empathize with his words because I know I’ve lost heart at times in my life. I desperately want to believe rather than betray.

Luke 18:1 says, “Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart” (NKJV, emphasis mine).

The Greek word used here for “lose heart” is egkakeo, which means “become discouraged, to lose courage, to be weary in anything, flag, faint.”

Paul the apostle also uses this word in his letters to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 4:1, 16), Galatians (6:9), Ephesians (3:13), and Thessalonians (2 Thessalonians 3:13).

It’s tempting to throw in the towel when we don’t see the answer to our prayer that we want. In a world that grinds us down, it would be much easier simply to forfeit the match rather than show up and fight. The tempter is there at every pivotal moment whispering those poisonous words, “All men betray. All men lose heart.”

But our great Champion, who smashed the head of that slimy serpent, calls us to follow him onto the battlefield. To persist in prayer, burn with belief, and fight in faith.

And one day, like William Wallace, we’ll let out a primal cry in the face of our enemy: “Freedom!”

Reflection: In what ways have you found yourself empathizing with Robert the Bruce? What is it that Jesus is calling you to resume fighting for in prayer?

This plan has been an excerpt from the book "Encounters with Jesus: 21 Days of Drawing Close to the Son " by CJ Hitz