Boldly Light the Way
In today's post I want to talk about boldness.
Let me start with a personal conviction. I believe boldness is a personality trait which is absolutely necessary for anyone who desires to fulfill their destiny assignment during this human experience. Without boldness no one steps outside their comfort zones to do anything great.
Do you want to get a job? You have to put yourself out there. Do you want to find a mate? You must be bold enough to have that first conversation. Do you want to start a business? Then, be bold enough to take that risk. Do you want to help people? You have to be bold enough to attract those who could benefit from the help you have to offer them.
The challenge though is that boldness is risky. When we step-out, there is a chance we will make a mistake, be embarrassed, fail, be rejected, be misunderstood or even ridiculed. Because of that risk, some people choose to live in a much smaller world than their potential would afford them.
The other thing with boldness is that it seems to live on the borderline between courage and confidence vs arrogance and pride.
A bold person can be perceived as either generous and kind or presumptuous and conceited.
Now in reality they could be either depending on the spirit by which they are motivated.
However it is important to note that our perceptions of the boldness of others can also be coloured by our own insecurities and fears or the level of confidence we have in ourselves.
For example, if I myself am a person who serves others boldly with a genuine heart to help. I may perceive another bold person to be brave and sincere in their actions. However, if I am living from a self-preserving comfort zone of my own making, I may perceive that very same person to be pompous and bigheaded. (ie."Who do they think they are to do that?")
A person who is serving others from a place of pride themselves may view another bold person to be self-important and even see the newcomer as a competitor or a threat who wants to show-off or displace them. The other person could actually be serving with a pure heart but every one of us sees others through the lenses of our own perspective.
In other words, a person who never cheats is not generally fearful that others around them are cheaters. In fact, they are shocked when they are cheated because it is such a foreign concept to them. Similarly a person who isn't prideful doesn't generally assume others are motivated by pride.
The reality is that there is a difference between confidence and arrogance. A confident person believes they can do something because they've developed a skill set through experience or they have studied up on a subject because of a passion in their heart. So, using their gift, or knowledge or skill to serve others is a natural progression of their own development. A confident person believes they can help.
Sometimes a person may not even be confident in themselves but confident that God will show up as they step out in faith to obey Him as the spirit leads. How did they become so confident? Probably because they have boldly exercised their faith in the past and obeyed God one opportunity at a time until they developed their trust muscle that God would show up.
Sometimes God will put a person on my heart. When He does, I will pray for that person or sometimes even reach out to them.
I reach out not because I think I am the answer to that person's problem or because I feel like I am the only one that God could use in that assignment but because I know that as I respond in obedience, God will speak through me to bless that person's life. I love to be a part of what God is doing. I also love people and love to see others thrive.
God is good and often is just looking for someone who is bold enough to obey His leading because He loves each of us enough to want to reach out to us through one another.
Am I arrogant to believe God will use me in this way? I don't think so. Because I know that He is no respecter of persons and He will use anyone who is willing. I just happen to be a willing party and it probably doesn't hurt that I really enjoy it.
When God moves and positive change happens for that individual, am I arrogant to be proud of the growth in the person God used me to reach out to?
I don't know. Isn't it possible that I am just happy for the person who has gotten their breakthrough? Isn't it right to be honoured and humbled to have had the privilege of being a small part of what God wanted to do for that person?
If I didn't hope that I could be of some help, would I even have reached out to begin with? So when breakthrough comes, how can one help but be blessed by the goodness of God and feel privileged to have been a part of it?
Recently, I've been accused of being arrogant or egotistical and even prideful for stepping out in faith to obey God and serve others as He leads.
People have told me that they believe that when I reach out to help others I do so with an agenda to prove to the world that I have something to offer.
I've been told that I reach out to others thinking that I am the only one who has ever reached out to them and that I believe that if I didn't do it, the person would not have gotten their breakthrough. In other words, I think the breakthrough happened solely because of my efforts.
This was news to me. I did not know that I felt this way until someone brought it to my attention.
I don't know about you but I believe the switch from confident to arrogant happens when someone believes that they are the ONLY one who can help or that God chose to use them because they are better than others.
Arrogant people believe they are superior to others and that without them, nothing good would be accomplished.
Confident people are willing to serve as a member of a team and are not afraid of letting others shine. Arrogant ones will take the limelight for themselves and cast a shadow on or minimize others. In fact, isn't it more likely that the arrogant person would be the one to bring an accusation against another who genuinely wants to help?
Confident people share to see others grow. Arrogant people just want to show others what they know.
There is a distinct difference and I believe that there is evidence of which one is in operation in the fruit of a person's life.
1 Pet. 5:5 says that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.
I believe that sometimes that grace is needed for a confident humble servant to endure and overcome a season of false accusation.
When we believe others are arrogant, it is important that before we make our final conclusion, we examine our own hearts to see if perhaps we may be uncomfortable with their boldness because of an insecurity God wants to highlight in our own lives.
If someone said to me, "I met with so and so and since then God has really done a great work in their life. I fee so blessed that God used me to help them." I would celebrate with them and thank God that they were able to be used. I would not get angry at them and believe that they were taking all the credit for that person's victory.
I would understand their joy. I would encourage them to keep obeying God and continue to serve as many people as they could. What a blessing to be used.
Consider this scripture in Matt. 5:14-16 (TPT). It says, “Your lives light up the world. Let others see your light from a distance, for how can you hide a city that stands on a hilltop? And who would light a lamp and then hide it in an obscure place? Instead, it’s placed where everyone in the house can benefit from its light. So don’t hide your light! Let it shine brightly before others, so that the commendable things you do will shine as light upon them, and then they will give their praise to your Father in heaven.”
It seems to me that God expects us to recognize the light that He has placed within each of us and He wants us to let that light shine so that others can see it from a distance.
This means we must boldly use and even highlight the gifts, talents and abilities we have acquired so that others, from a far distance away can see that someone has their answer and be drawn toward that light.
Choosing to dim the light within is not genuine humility. It is either fear or laziness masquerading as humility. If we truly love God and love one another we would not shrink back. We would shine as brightly as we could so that, like a lighthouse we would illuminate the way for others to get to shore without hitting any of the rocks that the enemy has set up as roadblocks before them.
That doesn't mean that we shine on that hilltop alone or that we try to out-shine others. It means we all shine together. It doesn't mean that we shine in order to get the glory. It means we shine that light which God has put in us so that others can see God's love for them and give Him all the glory.
I also want to caution those who are uncomfortable with the confidence and boldness of others. If you want people to sit down in a valley and dim their light because their passion for God's ability to use them makes you uncomfortable, you may want to ask yourself if that sounds like God to you. It sounds like disobedience to me.
I have examined my heart before the Lord and obviously I am not perfect. There have been times when even though I was motivated by love to reach out to those God put on my heart, I did also hope that a mentor would notice. I have felt the resistance of accusation in the last season and as a result I have felt judged unfairly. I have felt the need to prove myself. I'm not sure, but maybe the ones who accused me of having wrong motives were picking up on that.
Or, perhaps their belief about the narrative going on in my mind was based more on their own insecurities about themselves than on how I actually felt about my actions.
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Either way, does it really matter?
Yes, it was hurtful to hear that someone believed my motives were impure, but there is nothing I can do to prove to them that I don't think I am better than others.
I have repented to the Lord for wanting to defend myself. I realize it is not my place to vindicate myself or to prove my worth to anyone. I simply serve at the pleasure of my King and I will do so even if others misunderstand the motives of my heart.
The reason I am writing this blog today is to hopefully inspire boldness in anyone who reads this.
No matter what others think of us, it does not change God's word.
It takes boldness to choose to light the way for others even if a few believe your motives are impure.
If we really think about it though, what is the alternative? We cannot be less than what God has created us to be in order to make others more comfortable.
We dare not disobey the leading of the Holy Spirit so that others won't have anything bad to say.
I don't know about you but I just want to obey God and I am grateful for the accusations. They have caused me to see something in me that I want God to remove. Thanks to this revelation I am free to no longer feel like I have anything to prove.
I just have to be myself, the part of myself that is willing to risk it all to honour God. That is liberating.
Listen, a teacher teaches, a coach coaches, a care-giver gives care. etc.
I challenge you to be bold enough to examine your own heart just like I did. Then, I challenge you to be bold enough to obey God as authentically as you can.
Let's all shine brightly and light the way for as many people as possible to join us on the hilltop and shine with us.
Until next week remember that you are loved and deeply cherished by Jesus and by me.
Please let me know your thoughts below.
Love
Vita
