Lesson Eleven: Be Bold

The Divider Between Talking and Living It

Boldness is the great divider. It is the moment that separates those who talk about conviction from those who live it. We applaud boldness when it is safe, tidy, and costs nothing. But the real thing, the kind that leaves your hands trembling and your voice catching in your throat, is the kind most people run from.

The Cost of Silence

It is easy to stay silent when speaking might cost you your comfort, your friendships, or your status. Nowhere is that truer than in matters of faith. You might believe deeply, but saying it out loud can feel like stepping into a spotlight you did not ask for, with an audience already forming its judgment.

The truth is, it is not always the unbelievers who are the harshest critics. Often, it is the people who knew you before, the ones who think they already have you figured out. That fear of their raised eyebrows is enough to keep many of us quiet.

My Struggle with Being Bold

I know this because it is my struggle too. I have faith. I believe. But I sometimes hesitate to talk about it openly because I don't feel I know enough to defend it to anyone who might challenge me. There is this unspoken fear that someone will question me in a way I cannot answer, and I will be found unworthy of claiming such beliefs.

Intellectually, I know how silly that is. Faith is not a test you pass; it is a relationship you grow. But still, I wrestle with that insecurity. I am working on it. I am trying to improve. I am trying to be bold.

The Call to Speak Up

Silence, however, has its own cost. Jesus said, “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven” (Matthew 10:32). That is not just encouragement; it is a direct call to action.

Paul wrote, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” (Romans 1:16), not from the comfort of a desk but with prison walls closing in around him. For them, boldness was not symbolic. It was a blood and bone reality.

Boldness is Not Recklessness

Being bold does not mean being reckless. It means stepping into discomfort with clarity and conviction. It means choosing the hard conversation over the safe silence, the truth over the performance, the light over the shade.

C.S. Lewis said, “Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.” If your faith, or any conviction, cannot survive the testing point, then it is not a conviction; it is decoration.

Boldness Requires Adaptability

Boldness is not rigidity. If you believe the same things, in the same way, with the same certainty you did ten years ago, it is worth asking yourself if you have grown or simply stayed safe. Growth demands adaptability. It demands the humility to admit you have learned something that changed you.

The boldest people are often the most teachable.

The Line in the Sand

This is your line in the sand. Do not whisper your faith in the dark. Speak it in the daylight. Do not hide behind the excuse that it is not the right time. The right time is now. Speak it, stand in it, live it, and let the chips fall where they may.

In the end, the world does not remember those who kept their heads down. It remembers those who stood up. And when you stand, truly stand, you may find that others were waiting for someone to go first.