Living with Boldness

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. – Acts 4:13 “Boldness” is the distinct embodiment of God’s presence in your life. It means that every bone in your body and every drop of blood in your heart does not hesitate to go beyond the usual limits of conventional thought or action. Unfortunately, those of us who claim to believe in the salvific power of Jesus Christ have a hard time living in it. Too often are we plagued by inspiring words and a thorough lack of bold action. In fact, the only thing bold about us is our inaction, which can be described as the epitome of marginalization. This is our sad testament against the state of our faith. When we start walking with Jesus, our “commonness” and our “uneducated” behaviors become the astonishment of God. In our walk, the weakness and feeble selfish nature becomes consumed by God’s grace and we become subsumed by God’s own nature. Peter and John were ordinary by any measure and standard, yet when they stood boldly in the face of people who could have easily taken their lives, they “boldly” proclaimed things beyond their ordinary limits. Just take a look at the boldly dialectical statement they make before the “rulers of the Temple, “… let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well.” (Acts 4:10). Only somebody educated in Platonic reasoning would be able to make such an argument in the 1st century! The logical method employed by common fishermen stopped Israel’s intellectuals. The Bible says they (rulers) “had nothing to say in opposition.” We can live with this same type of boldness even in our weakest circumstances and most vulnerable moments. We only need to walk with Jesus. We need to spend time with him so we can inherit the supernatural Spirit that fills empty hearts and satisfies longing souls. Here’s how we start: 1. Recognize your inability and your banal commonality 2. Pray for boldness by becoming witnesses of His power unfold in your life through miracles and signs. If you do these two things the results speak for themselves, just take a look at what happens after Peter and John’s run in with the law: “And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.” (Acts 4:31) This morning I pray our lives to be visibly shaken as we become filled with the Holy Spirit to become bolder than any opposition as we strive to become instruments of God’s grace in our walks of life. It’s time we start living with God given boldness.