Live Bold!

Discipleship is not a sideline sport!  It is an intentional life, a committed life, a focused life, a bold life.  Sometimes it becomes all to easy for us to approach faith as spectators; like people going to watch a movie or a play, or maybe like going to cheer on our favorite team at a sporting event.  We wear a shirt with our team colors and fly the flags from our car, but we are not the ones on the field, the screen, or the stage...rather we cheer others on (maybe even enthusiastically), but stay safely removed.   In a similar vein, it becomes all too easy to attend church, use the right religious words, learn a few Bible verses, applaud others who serve, sing worship songs, and maybe even have a sticker on the car.  But....isn’t there more to faith?    

In the Bible, the invitation of Jesus is really simple, “Come, and follow me!”  It is not to sit back and watch, it is not to cheer him on, it is not to stand afar and adore him, it is not even to simply say “I believe in you Jesus”.  It is to follow him:  to serve who he would serve, love who he would love, forgive as he would forgive.  It means we live in the world as peacemakers rather than conflict carriers.  We love people who others see as unlovable, and we are humble enough to live as servants, not people looking for status.  This is reflected not just in our words, but in our attitudes, our actions, the ways we use our time and the ways we spend our money.  It is reflected in our priorities.  

This way of Jesus is not easy.  It is very counter-cultural and I think Jesus knew this.  That is why he would even try to dissuade some people from following him, if they were not really sure that this was the life for them (see Matthew 8:18-22).  He didn’t want people just to claim his name, he wanted them to continue his work.  He wanted not faith-filled words, but faith-filled lives.  

This is what it means for us to live bold today:  to follow and carry on Jesus’ work.  It is reflected in the way we order our lives and what we give priority to.  Do we give prayer a place in our busy schedules?  What about time to serve others?  What about our giving and spending habits?  Do we spend more time in worship or watching football each month?  Are we better at criticizing or blessing?  These are important questions not meant to induce guilt, but to inspire us to realign our lives so that we may better follow Jesus and continue his work.  

The Apostle Paul once said, “God’s goal for us is to become mature adults-to be fully grown, measured by the standard of the fullness of Christ.”  (Ephesians 4: 13b)  I think what he was saying is that God wants for us to live boldly and grow in the likeness of Jesus.  We can’t just talk about Jesus, we have to live Jesus!  And this is living a bold life!

You are the hands and the feet of Christ!

Brett