Skip to main content

The Dangers of Being Bold



As we strive to project the Gospel in our daily lives, we are to display boldness. Boldness is simply taking a stand without fearing the repercussions or consequences of that stand.

The Bible says in Acts 4:31, "And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness."

Boldness is a good trait to have in light of spreading the Gospel; in fact, it is a trait most leaders possess. However, being bold can be used as a tool of discouragement if abused. It can empower the tongue (or keypad) to voice opinions and judgments that are contrary to the will of God, and when that happens, we lose credibility for the Gospel.  I recently ran across something very helpful on the internet the other day that I am going to try to keep in mind. I did expound on them a bit. Here they are:

Boldness doesn't justify:
  • Poor planning. Why plan? The bold individual has it all figured out. They are confident if the need arises to "wing it." Even when they come up short on a task, they will never admit it. There's little to no room for improvement because they think they're okay doing things their way.
  • Lack of preparation. They don't need to prepare for anything, because they feel there's no need. They know everything and no one will tell them differently. They stick to their opinion, which they feel is right and don't bother to look at "the other side" of things.
  • Abuse. Name-calling or belittling others for righteousness sake. They are overly-judgmental, applying Scripture to circumstances that do not correlate with one another, or they apply Scripture out of context to line up with their logic. They're stubborn, never admitting to being wrong.  They are also unapologetic when discovered to be in the wrong. The unfortunate part in this, is that they unwittingly come across to others as brash, rude, and unfriendly-- which is ironic because they typically say that they are being a "real" friend by "telling you the truth" (well... the truth as they see it). A real friend won't sling around hurtful names even when they don't agree. If this happens, don't embrace the "friendship."
  • Manipulation. Bold people are by nature bossy. Probably because bosses are leaders as mentioned above. Part of being bossy is "getting their way." They will use their boldness to assert their strong feelings over others, manufacturing a sense of guilt that may not even be appropriate for the actions of others. Once they lay the guilt trip on their victim, the manipulation begins. Guilt trip after guilt trip will be issued until the victim begins to react in the manipulator's favor on a regular basis. After time, the bold manipulator gets his way.

I suppose the list of negatives could go on for a while, but these were the top four in my book. I am a very opinionated person, so I can relate to many of these, and yes... I've even been guilty of some of them. As I try to learn meekness in my life, I feel the need to restrain my boldness to only propagate the Gospel message, not my own personal whims. May God help me with this!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Crossing the Line.... The Sin of Androgyny

  Puke, Vomit, Hurl. These are the best words I can bring up (pun intended) to describe my disgust for cultural androgyny – the societal blurring of the gender lines. We live in a culture where masculinity is criticized for its rough exterior and insensitivity, and feminism is elevated as the preferred trait among men. To succumb to this idea, it is now acceptable for parents buy their son girls’ jeans and allow him to grow his hair out long enough to make Rapunzel jealous. This same culture that belittles masculinity in men, promotes it for women. Our daughters are told that there are no barriers or rules for dress. Anything goes, even if that means looking the part of their male counterparts. Society warns that it would be an epic failure to ask individuals to don a gender-appropriate hairstyle or wear gender-appropriate attire because “you may damage their psyche” and you might “limit their opportunity to express individuality.” In the 1970s, Sandra Bem – the inventor of the B
2 comments
Read more

"And We Esteemed Him Not"

During a recent Sunday evening service, Pastor Bickelhaupt asked what it was that is so important as to keep church members from attending church when they know the doors are open and services are being held. He went on to say that people willfully reject the prospect of meeting with Christ Himself (as His presence is promised when the church meets together in His name). Jesus promises in Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”  Pastor implied that there are too many professing Christians who find it preferable to attend the weekly Sunday morning worship hour, but find gracing the church building outside of that service to be merely optional, an inconvenience, or just not that important.   It got me thinking. What could possibly be more important than meeting with the Savior?! Here is Someone Who gave everything for us. He literally sacrificed a heavenly abode for an earthly bed mat, for scripture reveals that He had no
Post a Comment
Read more

Enabling Parent: Confront yourself, not your child's teacher

Have you ever wrongly blamed someone for something you didn't know you did? I think we've all been there. It's not a pleasant situation to find yourself in for sure, because crow tastes awful. I remember once blaming a college roommate for throwing away a midterm paper I had spent hours writing. I became flustered and angry and said some regrettable things to him. After rewriting my assignment, I headed to the printing lab, where I had left my first report lying at the printing table. Open mouth, insert crow. Fastforward 18 years. I am now an educator, and our school just finished up our first-quarter Parent-Teacher Conference. I dread the Parent-Teacher Conference. My fellow teachers also dread them. Why?  In one word.... Parents.  Today's parents (for the most part) are enablers. The enabling trend has worsened over the years with the ever-increasing influence of technology and the digital age (the connection is worthy of its own blog). Over the last 15
Post a Comment
Read more