Have you thought recently about how bold our world has become? In the age of the internet it is no uncommon thing to see someone boldly proclaiming their views on something. People will happily tell you what political candidate is the best or why a certain word someone used is now taboo or where the best place to get a haircut in town is or why that place is a scam after someone tells you to go there or the best kind of cobbler (c’mon people, its cherry and we all know it). We find ourselves in a culture that is incredibly bold about so many things that have such little eternal significance. The boldness is good, the content is lacking.
Scripture calls us to be bold but bold about the right things. Verse 12 of Chapter 3 says “Since we have such a hope, we are very bold”. Our boldness is not from things of the world. Our boldness is not from skills or achievements we have. Our boldness is not from some temporary authority or place we have. Our boldness should only be found in the hope that we have found in the work of Jesus Christ. Christ who rescued us. Christ who is transforming us “from one degree of glory to another.” Christ who sends to us the Spirit to live in us and give us the very boldness we so often use to proclaim everything but the gospel.
Paul drives it home for the church. Our hope is the type that is never perishing and never failing. It is a hope that is greater than any struggle or fear or doubt or persecution or failure. That means our boldness is of the same type, and it means that it is a boldness that always points towards that hope. So who needs your boldness in the gospel today? Is there a neighbor or a family member or a waiter or a store clerk that needs you to boldly proclaim the gospel today? Someone that needs you to boldly live the way Christ did so that they might ask for the reason for your hope? I am praying you feel that hopeful boldness today.
VC Devotionals 