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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!
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