Some time last year, I was showing my friend a message I had typed up to send to a guy I thought was cute and she said “wow, yeah, that’s bold–go for it”. I immediately shrunk inwardly when she said that. Her head turned sideways and she said “Why do you always take boldness as a bad thing?”.

I can’t stop thinking about that. What about boldness just seems wrong to me? I don’t think I believe it’s wrong for others to be bold.

Maybe it’s because I don’t want to assert myself in a way that intimidates others or makes them feel like I am better. Or maybe— just maybe, I’m scared of placing myself in places where I am unwanted and will experience judgment or rejection because of it or maybe even fail.

It’s easier to always be invited to participate. To be invited to boldness. To be invited to something that’s new. But seeing an opportunity to show yourself in a place where no one invited you—well dang that’s just scary.

It’s like- okayyyy well, I wasn’t invited so I’m going to just go on doing my own thing hoping that somehow I’ll be seen and that people will take the time to draw me out.

Isn’t that what we all want? We want to be seen and known.

We long to be understood. To be accepted. To be able to fully reveal ourselves with no shame.

BUT how the HECK are we going to experience any of this freedom without Christ AND BOLDNESS?!

1. Christ is the one who sets us free from shame
2. The freedom of Christ should embolden us to live authentically, hiding nothing of who we are.

That’s the beauty of the gospel isn’t it? Christ sees our brokenness and says “yeah I’m gonna die for all that so you don’t have to carry that anymore”. Because our brokenness is heavy. It makes us hide. It shuts us down and brings out fear. With Christ we are FREE to live without shame, guilt, and fear of how people will respond to us.

I am convinced that the gospel makes us brave. That is, when we have a clear understanding of what the gospel is. We spend so much of our life saddled by the weight of sin, being first lovers of sin, we are unaware that this sin we find pleasure in is actually death in disguise. It looks and feels like it will satisfy us, and it does for a time. But truly, we are immersing ourselves in a lifestyle of lesser loves.

When God, in his loving kindness draws us to himself, we are able to see that the pleasures of this world are like sand slipping through our fingers, unable to be grasped. The character of God and the truth of the gospel is an immovable rock, that you can stand on and not be shaken. You can find peace in knowing that even if the ocean waves crash against the rock, it won’t erode or shift. It is never changing. The gospel is life changing because it is the key to life itself.

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Deuteronomy 31:6