Boldness

Chris Bilauca

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

During a visit to a village named Source-Matelas today, we met a woman whom we had the opportunity to pray for. She requested we pray that her husband would become a Christian. We happily obliged. As we were getting ready to leave, the husband arrived, and we got to exchange a few words with him. One of our team members, Marcus, started asking him some direct questions through a translator.

Did he believe in Jesus?
Yes.
Did he have a relationship with Him?
No.
Why not?
He didn’t feel like he was ready to commit to the rules.

This led into us being able to share the truth with this man, that it wasn’t about following rules, but simply humbling oneself to receive the grace that Jesus freely gives. I think we convinced him to come to church that night; we’ll see in a few hours. But the whole thing got me thinking: How basic, how simple, sharing the good news with our neighbor is. It’s quite possibly the simplest thing ever: Get over the awkwardness, open your mouth, and speak. On the ride back, Marcus, who works with troubled teens, mentioned that God’s been teaching him to swallow his pride ask the awkward questions. “You may swing and miss, but you’ll never get a hit if you don’t swing.” Bringing the tough questions to surface can also do wonders for internal healing, Marcus says. In his work with troubled teens, often they don’t even know how to quantify what’s going on inside of them, and for fear of confrontation, no one wants to ask the tough questions that might help disentangle their complexes. Basic psychology, I guess. But it shouldn’t be only those with a PSYCH 101 credit who go out in boldness, nor should we fear the consequences of putting ourselves out there for the truth. Peter and John got arrested for spreading the gospel. After their release, they come back to the rest of the believers and urge them to pray for what? More boldness!

And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to Your servants to continue to speak Your word with all boldness.
Acts 4.29

If we fear the consequences, it’s likely we’ve got some root of pride we’re failing to acknowledge. We are, each of us as Christians, called to go out and spread the good news. May we approach with boldness, be willing to push through awkwardness, and be motivated by love from the Father that is stronger than the fear of confrontation.