Follower or Imitator- Where is Your Boldness?

Are you bold enough to take a leap for Jesus?

When you consider people from the Scripture, who would you find to be truly bold? There are so many to choose from who showed strength amid great travail and adversity; Peter, Paul, Elijah, Ezekiel, Esther, David, and so many more. However, I want to look at someone who  would often be overlooked - Gideon.

We see the story of Gideon unfold in chapters 6 and 7 of the book of Judges. Here is a normal, everyday man living in a city struggling against the oppressive forces of the Midianites. He does not see himself as much- in fact when the Angel of the Lord (pre-incarnate Christ) calls him “a mighty man of valor” and informs Gideon that he shall deliver Israel from this current bondage, he responds with a typical statement. He cries out “O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house” (Judges 6:15).

On a sidenote, isn’t God awesome - how He always chooses “the least of these”, or “the youngest of the family”? He chooses “the foolish things of the world to confound the wise” (1 Cor 1:27). Just like with David, and so many others!

Back to Gideon’s boldness- upon hearing amazing statements from God, we see him do something people through the ages have rebuked him for - he asks three times for a sign - confirmations from God that he has really been called to this task. He seeks to ensure that it is truly God calling him to this position,  knowing there is no way possible he will achieve any level of victory if God is not walking every step with him.

Gideon is an example of someone who went out - honestly afraid - but bold. Once he internalized what God had spoken to Him was true - he followed every command - even down to the task of stripping his army from numbers over 20,000 to 300 men; a feat many people would not even consider.

There is a famous quote from Franklin D. Roosevelt, resonating the same depth of truth today as when first uttered that says, “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear”. This is true in our life of faith. There is something much more important than any fear that may rule in our hearts. Fear of failure. Fear of rejection. Fear of alienation. Fear of loss. 

What is the more important thing?

People. 

People are what matter to God. 

Luke 19:10 states “the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost”. What was lost? All of us. We were cut off – wandering in the darkness and destitution our sins covered us in. Experiencing eternal separation from God the Father, which would still be in place if not for the sacrifice Jesus made to bridge the gap. 

People matter to God. Every. Single. One.

We are called to boldness in Christ, not because we strive to be “mighty men of valor”, but because there are lost and hurting people in the world who need to be introduced to the one and only cure. Boldness in this manner is not  confidence, or arrogance in our own ability, but rather in His! We “with confidence, draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb 4:16). We ask the Father to “grant us (His servants) to continue to speak your word with all boldness” (Acts 4:29), and we see God’s answer to that prayer in Acts 4:31 “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.”

The key is to be filled with the Holy Spirit- the empowerment of boldness. The Greek word for boldness is parresia- meaning courage or fearlessness. We do not carry courage within our own strength, rather we rely on the work of the Holy Spirit in and through us.

When we are sharing a testimony, serving Christ in any capacity, or even coming before Him in private prayer; we are expecting Him to move on our behalf. And we come, as we read in Hebrews, boldly before the throne, boldly before man, boldly before the enemy- because we know the One who fights on our behalf. We know whom we defend. We know the truth in what we share.

So we go out- boldly- and proclaim the truth of Christ.

We should seek boldness in our lives. Boldness is not always loud- often it is a quite strength. It is a silent witness in the way we live out our lives- the way we carry ourselves through trials. 

But it is also a “fire”- it consumes us, just like passion, and we must speak out about what we know to be true.

Questions:

1.   Think of a time when you acted in boldness for Christ. Think of a time when you did not. Was there a difference in your intimacy and closeness to Christ at these times?

2.   What steps can we take to become bold/bolder for Christ?

3.   What are some of the things that may hold us back from living a bold life?

Scriptures to Consider:

2 Tim 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of self-control.”

Prov 28:1 “The wicked flee when no one is pursuing them, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.”

Rom 8:31 “What then, shall we say, in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”

Josh 1:9 “I’ve commanded you, haven’t I? “Be strong and courageous. Don’t be fearful or discouraged, because the Lord your God is with you, wherever you go.”

“When we find a man meditating on the words of God, my friends, that man is full of boldness and is successful.”     - Dwight L. Moody