Discerning a courageous move from a stupid move can be challenging. For most of us, courage isn’t rushing into burning buildings to rescue kittens. For me, that would be stupid rather than courageous. I used to think being bold for Christ was going to work in Africa as a missionary. And it is. I was right. But that may not be MY bold. Courage is about doing something that you know you should when it is easier not to. I believe that God-given boldness comes with a spark of desire. He does not expect us to do what he hasn’t given us the motivation to do. At least that is what I think. Being bold is not my forte. I am a comfort-loving, go-with-the-flow girl so this is my exploration of courage and boldness.
The Bible is full of examples of boldness. Zacchaeus climbing a tree to see Jesus, the disciples dropping everything to follow Jesus, Joseph marrying the pregnant Mary, Esther approaching a volatile king on behalf of her people, or Elijah creating a duel between the fire-making skills of God verses Baal and being rather sassy about it. This is only scratching the surface of the examples of courage in the Bible. But what I must remember is that Zacchaeus, Joseph, Esther and Elijah were not superheroes. They were all human just like me. They were imperfect and afraid. Yet they followed God and took the first step.
Today your courage may be going to the doctor. For others it may be going to church again. For some, it may take boldness to trust someone else to do the job. Boldness could mean cleaning out the junk(literally and figuratively). It could be forgiving someone, letting a child go, asking for help, ignoring opinions of others, moving on without a spouse, visiting an old friend, speaking to a group or even going on vacation.
So here are three questions I need to ask myself before I take that bold step.
- Have my loved ones been hinting at(nagging about) this step for me? Many times the next bold step is obvious to your loved ones but you are hesitant. Listen to them. God often uses our loved ones to guide us.
- Do I have hope for improvement resulting from this or do I have a passion or desire to do this but I am held back by fear?
- Have I prayed about it?
If my answer to all of these questions is no then I could be staring into the face of an act of stupidity. But if the answer to the first or second question is yes, then it is time to make the answer to the third question yes. Maybe it is time to take this first bold step.