Will to Act
By Anthony Casperson
10-17-26

Because I haven’t seen the show Lanterns, I don’t know for certain how much of the comic’s generally agreed upon interactions are explained the same way. However, a decent amount of online chatter—from various perspectives—about the show had me thinking about what the lantern, the ring, and the constructs represent in the typical showcasing of the power.

The general idea is that it all comes down to willpower. It is by will of the ring’s wielder that the constructs are formed. The desire to act in the midst of the situation provides the tool—the construct—for the job.

Yet the greatest weakness of the Green Lanterns’ power is fear, represented on the emotional spectrum by the color yellow. And it might seem odd that fear is the opposite of will, since we often consider fear and bravery to be opposed, but willpower is sort of like the action that shows bravery by moving forward despite the fear.

The concept of bravery not being the absence of fear, but the willingness to face it, has been with us for generation upon generation. In actual history, Mark Twain said that bravery is resistance or mastery of fear, not the absence of it. And in non-comic book fiction, George R.R. Martin shows Ned Stark tell his young son Bran that when a person is afraid is the only time they can be brave.

However, such bravery requires action to truly overcome the fear. Or to put it another way, if we allow fear to leave us inactive, then we can’t be brave. And this is why Green Lantern lore says that will is the opposite of fear. When fear calls us to stay where we are and do nothing to change for the better, it takes will to move anyway.

It’s bravery in action.

In previous blogs and also a chapter in the book I’ve written, Hydroponic Spirituality: Thriving in The Depths, I’ve pointed out that faith has very much the same interplay. Faith is not just mental assent in something, or acknowledging the truth about something. Rather, faith is action.

Hebrews 11 is considered the faith chapter because of so many faithful of God being show in rapid succession. However, if you look at every time the chapter says, “By faith…,” it gives the person’s name, and then very shortly afterward has an action verb showing what they did.

“By faith, Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice.” “By faith, Noah…constructed an ark.” “By faith, Abraham obeyed...” “By faith, Isaac invoked future blessings.” “By faith, Jacob, when dying, blessed each of his sons.” “By faith, [Moses] left Egypt.” “By faith, the people [of Israel] crossed the Red Sea as if on dry ground.” These are just a few of the actions listed in the chapter.

Biblically speaking, faith is action. Faith means doing. It must be active.

And much like will for the Green Lanterns, faith moves us despite that which calls us to remain where we are. Fear, as well as doubt, opposes faith. Fear that things won’t turn out well. Doubt that our situation will ever change. Fear of rejection. Doubt that there’s even an answer out there.

These all leave us inactive. They sap the faith in us concerning the will of God. They cause our feet to falter in our forward steps.

And just as bravery is not an absence of fear, but the willingness to move forward despite the fear, faith is not the absence of doubt, but the action that refuses to be stopped by doubt.

Followers of Jesus don’t have to be perfectly undoubting in order to be faithful. We can have questions and fears and ignorance of how certain things work. As long as those things don’t keep us from moving forward alongside our God.

We need to act, take that one next step of faith, despite the resistance of doubt pulling at our ankles. And then do it again. And again.

That is faith.

Maybe an example could help us. And this one requires looking at two connected passages of the bible. Psalm 56:1 tells us that this psalm is one David wrote concerning the time he’d gone to Gath as shown in 1 Samuel 21:10-15.

David was early in his time running from King Saul. And he figured that running to Israel’s enemies, the Philistines, would be the best place to go. However, when he was there waiting for the Philistines to bring him to their king, he realized they were starting to remember how much of a thorn David had been in their people’s side.

And this is when fear and doubt started calling to David. We don’t really see that in the 1 Samuel passage. But when we look at Psalm 56, we witness him declaring that he was afraid in that moment.

In Ps. 56:3, David says, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.” The enemies surrounded him. And right then, doubt crept in about God being there to help get him out of that situation. But, when the doubt and fear struck, David refused to let them prevent him from acting.

And in that action, he turned to God.

Many enemies surrounded. And if David had been alone, they could’ve overpowered him. But because David turned to faith in God, he was able to escape that trap. And near the end of the psalm, we see David repeat, “in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?” (Psalm 56:11).

But David’s action wasn’t just mental assent that God was able to help him. No, David joined God in the escape plan. Back in 1 Samuel 21:13, we see that he started to play the madman, acting like he was just a foolish person merely playacting that he was the mighty and legendary David.

And the king over the Philistines in Gath side eyed his underlings, saying, “I think I’ve already hit my limit of crazy people around here. Send this…person…away.” And so, David was freed.

Fear and doubt met faith. Active faith. And so, was overcome.

We followers of Jesus have the same God. The One who draws us to him so that we can work alongside him. He is with us in every difficult situation. Even the ones that have taken years and decades, and yet still continue on.

Let’s not allow fear and doubt to cease our steps toward our God. Rather, let us continue to take one more step toward him.

What that looks like will be different for each situation. And I’m not promising that it’s going to be easy. As a matter of fact, I need this blog as much as any one of you, given my own current circumstances. But I know that continuing with one more step is all that we can do in these types of situations.

We can’t let fear and doubt prevent us from moving. Not if we want to live in active faith.

Remember, faith doesn’t mean those restraints are totally removed. Their presence is actually what allows us to face them in faith. With God beside us.

And his is a power that doesn’t need recharging.