Be Bold!

If you grew up going to church as I did, you've heard the phrase "Be bold in your faith" hundreds of times. Somehow, hearing that as a child, it conjured up a picture of me with wild hair and wild eyes waving my Bible in the faces of strangers on the street telling them how much they need Jesus. Um yeah, I don't know where that came from either. Of course, that's NOT what being bold in your faith is about.

Faith is a personal thing. For me, faith is having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. So, being bold in my faith means being bold in my personal relationship. It means believing that all the promises of God are meant for me personally. It means knowing that God loves me, sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross bearing the weight of my sins. It means believing that Christ rose on the third day and is living now, preparing to return. It means being bold when I pray. Knowing that God hears every request, every praise, every concern. Knowing that God answers every prayer, although sometimes the answer is no, or wait.

Being bold means that I know that my prayers matter. That I can pray for those in my family or those I will never meet with the same urgency and love. It means that when I hear a praise report for an issue I've been praying for, I know that I played a small part. It means that I can talk about my faith and what God has done for me in casual conversation without feeling radical. Being bold in my faith means that I don't have to stop and think about what someone will think of me, I just have to share the facts and truths of my life.

As Easter approaches, it is easier to talk about things of faith. Although the bunnies, chicks, baby ducks, Easter eggs, and candy are fun, they are not the meaning of Easter. In this Holy Week, my prayer is if given the opportunity I will be bold in sharing the love of Christ.