Be bold!

I have arrived at Kaleo in Panama City Beach, Florida and the summer is already off to an amazing start. I don't do well with endings, but I love new beginnings. I have already learned so much and I can tell how I will be stretched and challenged this summer and experience profound growth in my walk with God. I am so thankful for my best friend Kayla Conant for challenging me to step out of my comfort zone, appeal to my convictions, and follow God with reckless abandon. My fear and timidity often stifles me and my reactions to situations, but this opportunity has already shown me how to step up and step out in faith.

This summer we are studying the book of 2 Timothy. As I was reading today, the verse that most struck me was 2 Timothy 1:6-7 which says, "I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God...For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." I had to recognize that my fear, lack of confidence, and insecurities are not only my own faults and weaknesses but devices of the enemy. God did not give us a spirit of timidity; we obtain it from fear and doubt. The first chapter of 2 Timothy goes on to say in verse 12, "Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed..." We are learning in this program how to disciple and witness the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. There is no place for fear or shame in God's great commission for us to share the Good News. There is no place for timidity in proclaiming the glory of God! Why is it that we are so apt to avidly proclaim good news in any other situation in life, but many of us shake in our boots in the thought of directly relaying the GREATEST NEWS EVER to people.

Galatians 1:10 asks "Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men?" There verse goes on to assert, "If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ." I am so guilty of trying to please men over God. I have been kept from sharing my faith out of fear of offending someone, or from fear of coming off as judgmental, condescending, or self-righteous. But I would much rather "offend" someone through universal absolute truth than comfort them with sugar-coated falsehood. That's hard for me as a people-pleaser and as someone who cares so much for the feelings of others, but I know in the grand scheme of things it is the right thing. Jesus' parables and teachings call in to question the way we are living and the way we think, act and believe. Many of the words he spoke would have offended his disciples, followers and strangers. I pray we can all speak truth in love and do it without fear or timidity.

Be bold. Cast off your fears. Embrace your call as a servant of Christ entrusted with the gift of His message of salvation for ALL. Amen and amen.