I know that I have often struggled with the idea of boldness as a Christian. In my mind, I have often associated it with great, dramatic, grand, far-reaching acts in expressing our faith. Kind of like what we see a lot of in Acts, like the apostles preaching to large crowds, confidently pursuing Jesus in the midst of strong and visible persecution, etc.

Certainly, that definition isn't wrong, per se. We can learn a lot from the actions and confidence we see from the apostles, and there are times when God calls us to do great, visible, dramatic acts for His name.

For me, though, I think I can often twist these ideas about boldness to become this anxiety-inducing practice of aggressively pursing my faith, even at times when the specific action I am pursuing may not be what I (or others) need or are ready for.

Once again, there is absolutely a place for pursuing God and living out our faith even when we are not fully comfortable with what we are doing - that just sounds like walking in faith, right? For me, though, I am wary of letting this idea of "boldly pursuing God" turn into a rat-race of trying to do the most good, spend the most time with God, share the gospel with the most people, all in the most dramatic ways and spaces. See how it can become unhealthy and draining (especially if you are an over-thinker, and perfectionist, like me)?

Responding to this dilemma, I recently conceived of the idea of boldness as simply confidently pursuing God in the places and ways that He has led me. This may be large, or may be small, but whatever it may be, we can walk confidently knowing that the Lord will be with us!

Some example ideas:

1. I can see that my co-worker is more stressed than usual. I don't want to force them to talk about what is stressing them if they don't want to, but I know them well enough to know that they would appreciate having a conversation. So, rather than second-guessing if it makes sense to talk to them, I just do! God is with the conversation, and maybe we talk about faith, or maybe about food, but whatever we talk about, it's worth it.
2. I have some free time, and remember that I have a sweatshirt that I would like to mend. I prayerfully consider other options with the Lord, but rather than getting lost in what is the best / most productive / most "spiritual" thing I could do, I joyfully choose to mend my sweatshirt, knowing that the Lord has led me to find value in this task, and that He is with me in it.

To me, there's a simplicity and beauty in thinking in this way. Maybe God will lead me to big and great things, or maybe He will lead me to take a nap. Either way, once I am aware enough of the idea and feel the Lord's guiding towards it, perhaps boldness is taking the faith to simply say "okay Lord, let's do it".

Of course, this all relies on having a grasp of what it means to follow the leading of the Lord in the first place. That's a hard question to answer! Regardless, though, if the Lord's leading isn't clear (which can often be the case), I believe that, whatever we may choose, "we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28, ESV). May that truth be of great comfort in our decision-making and pursuit of God!