Boldness.
You know that thing that stirs in your heart, convicts your mind and comes bursting out of your mouth?! Yeah. Boldness. Peter and John in the First Reading today had it in spades, to a point where people did not even know how to handle them. Nowadays we have a word for that: weirdos. People that are on fire for Christ, passionate about the good news and jump up excited to serve God: I look at them in wonderment.
To be bold is to be brave and to be brave is to let your vanity go to the wayside. That is hard. Super hard. My heart longs to serve, longs for Him and is in the right place, so God meets me where I am at and still uses me. I would say my boldness comes in spurts. God calls me to action; my heart is stirred; my mind is full of resolve; and I can hardly control the words that come out of my mouth. Sometimes it's a small interaction with a stranger and sometimes it's a greater call to serve over months of time.
I think I can only give a handful of examples in my life where I actually felt "bold," but it's not about adding tally marks to how many times you have been bold for Christ. No. That number will fluctuate, because everyone is different and frankly that number doesn't even matter.
The importance isn't about trying to be bold, in fact that's beside the point. It's about saying yes to whatever it is in that moment God is calling you to . . . boldness is a reaction to that action. All we have to do is say 'yes,' be available, and He will take that and use it.
What is our biggest obstacle in being bold for Christ? Trust.
My grandma describes a pivotal point in her conversion of faith as this . . . God wanted to use her. She needed to trust and let go, so she signed a blank sheet of paper and in doing so, signed her life over to God to use however He saw fit.
He will fill in the blank space, but it is just that, a blank, white, open, endless space . . . we need only to trust and give our life to Him. Every second, minute, hour, day, week, month, year belongs to Him. He will fill in the space.
That's gutsy. That is raw; that is real; that is radical; that is weird; and that is BOLD. Trust is bolder than bold!
Here is your blank sheet of paper. Will you sign it?
X________________________________________________
Trust Me.
-God.
Cassie Kent is a wife, mom to two kiddos, loves to get a little crafty and even throws a monthly party celebrating the beauty of creativity. You can find out more about her here.
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