God's Boldness by Rebecca Seaton

God’s Boldness by Rebecca Seaton

    Many Christians talk about being bold and we certainly should be. Bold about God’s love, His grace and His hope. Bold about the fact that knowing God can change things. We have to be bold about sharing what we know with the world. ‘Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20)

   But are we acting in God’s boldness or our own boldness? There are two common problems when being bold as a Christian. 1: Trying to summon up boldness. ‘Someone’s told me to be bold so I’m going to make myself do it.’ This is unnatural and often excruciating. 2: Another problem is being bold in our own strength but forgetting the God bit. Then we batter people with what we have to say rather than bringing it God’s way. Both of these approaches are unlikely to help the people we’re sharing God’s truth with.

    I’ve recently been looking at Daniel with a bible study group *. We’ve been studying his story in the context of secular leadership. Daniel was bold in extraordinary circumstances. As a slave, he had no rights and as a foreigner in the land he wouldn’t have known all the customs. Nevertheless he was able to boldly take a stand: ‘Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies…therefore he requested that he might not defile himself.’ (Daniel 1:8) However, he didn’t blunder in, all guns blazing. There were many things Daniel and his friends were asked to do and he did not protest at. He still served a foreign king, one who did not serve God and he allowed himself to be called a different name. But when he was bold, it was with God’s conviction: ‘…with counsel and wisdom Daniel answered Arioch’ (Daniel 2:14) and he shared his issues with his friends: ‘…that they might seek mercies from the God of heaven.’ (Daniel 2:18).

    God’s boldness is about conviction, power with love. The problems above are dissolved once we act from our relationship with God. 1: We don’t need to feel fearful, God has empowered us. There is no need to try to summon courage ourselves. 2: We don’t need to find security in results, we can have security in our identity with Christ and can trust His timing, then we will only do what we’re called to.

    The world needs us to be bold now…but God’s way, not ours.   





* Thanks to Victoria Morgan and Rodie Akerman for the teaching and inspiration.

Rebecca Seaton came second place in the 2017-18 Pen to Print Book Challenge with her first novel, A Silent Song. She regularly contributes to Write On! Magazine and is on the Pent to Print advisory panel.

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