Boldness

Be bold, take chances. Push beyond what you believe might be your boundaries or what might be holding you back. ?The evidence of boldness is whether you are making choices throughout the day that revolve around their desire to avoid conflict. If so, then that is a clear sign that cowardice is winning out over courage.

The operational definition of?boldness?is “confidence that what I have to say or do is true and right and just in the sight of God.” A bold person is willing to obey God when called to stand for righteousness. Boldness requires discernment to know when to stand, courage to face the unknown, wisdom to foresee the outcome, and love to communicate graciously. Boldness is the opposite of shyness. To be bold implies a willingness to get things done despite risks.

The circumstances of applying boldness in your life is summarized in this quote by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe… “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it; Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.” It has the power to see things others do not see and to accomplish things others cannot even imagine.

We are losing sight of TRUTH in a culture smothered by falsehoods. We need boldness and discernment. Even within the church, one of the primary defenders of TRUTH, it is now reported that over 40%?of American Christians believe that the only TRUTH a person can know is whatever is right for them individually (www.disciplenations.org/). This is shocking!

Todd Wilhelm suggests that “Anyone who has ever stood up for the truth of human dignity, no matter how disfigured, only to find previously supportive friends holding back, even remonstrating with you for your boldness, feels the loneliness of the poverty of uniqueness. This happens every day to those who choose to suffer for the absolute voice of conscience, even in what seem to be small matters. They find themselves standing alone. I have yet to meet the man or woman who enjoys such responsibility.”

An increasing passion for the?TRUTH?evokes a growing indifference to public opinion and to what people say or think. We can no longer drift with the crowd or echo the opinion of others, accept their lies at face value, and not speak up. Or the opposite opinion expressed by Martyn Lloyd-Jones… "'Speaking the truth in love' has come to mean that you more or less praise everything, but above all, that you never criticize any view strongly, because, after all, there is a certain amount of right and truth in everything."?There is not if you truly believe that there is only ONE TRUTH!

It can be intimidating to stand up for and speak the TRUTH. It often makes us uncomfortable because we don’t want to come across as someone who is a “know it all” or a lover of confrontation. TRUTH divides, but we do not want to be divisive with our words as if we are trying to prove ourselves right.?I focus on TRUTH because, as a Christian, God’s word commands us to speak the truth in love. Truth matters because souls matter to God, and HE wants to see the Body of Christ walking in TRUTH and love so we can shine brightly in a world divided by lies and hate.

As a Christian I need to follow Christ in?TRUTH and keep His Word with all my heart. “If we are doing this, we have power and authority in our testimony. Then we can speak about God’s Word with great?boldness, as we have personally experienced God’s working in our lives (John 14:23).

There is a great boldness in TRUTH that appears as you begin to understand what TRUTH is and how to apply it in your life.