The righteous are as bold as a lion. (Proverbs 28:1)

God calls us to be bold in our faith, but what does it mean to be bold? It doesn’t mean loud nor aggressive; it doesn’t mean attention-seeking nor reckless. Boldness is having a strong, vivid character—clear and confident—as well as the ability to take risks, to press through our feelings and do the things we know are right even though they may be uncomfortable or unpopular.

Bold believers aren’t often popular nor trendy. People who claim to be “spiritual but not religious” are much more well received. There’s many problems with this type of belief system—the lack of clarity for one. One cannot lack clarity and be bold. “Spiritual but not religious” sounds nice; it sounds much more open-minded and accepting. The term “religious” nowadays has been met with a certain “ew” factor. No one wants to be thought of as religious.

“Spiritual but not religious” people often claim to center their beliefs around this idea that they are “always seeking truth” and never really hope to land on any particular truth and end there; they are simply “always seeking”. As a Christian, I am always seeking truth, but I have firmly placed my faith in the birth and resurrection of Christ. I’m always seeking to learn more and more about who God is and His character. “Always seeking truth” without any goal of actually reaching a destination means finding truth would be a bad thing though, right? Your belief system would cease to exist if you were to actually ever find truth. Because of this, I believe people with this type of belief system will (subconsciously perhaps) avoid finding actual truth and suppress it. They will suppress it even when it’s right in front of them because they don’t want it. After all, finding truth and firmly planting themself in it would cause them to be seen as more narrow minded, boring, unpopular, and *gasp* religious. Finding truth would send them into an identity crisis of sorts.

Being bold in a society that values fluidity isn’t easy. It’s not always easy to stand up for what you believe in. It’s not easy to post things that I know are causing many people to roll their eyes or even worse dislike me. I do it anyway though because I’m called as a believer to be bold and use my voice. Keeping revelation to myself in an attempt to avoid rejection, no matter how much I study and pray on my own, is not being bold and is not God-honoring. It is not merely our faith but our boldness of faith which ultimately brings glory to God.