“But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict.”
‭‭(1 Thessalonians‬ ‭2‬:‭2‬)

Is it good to be bold? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. It certainly depends on the situation—and depends even more on what we mean by bold. There are least two instances in Scripture where we are told to be bold.

In Hebrew 4:16, the writer tells us we can approach God’s throne with boldness:

Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.

We can have boldness when approaching God’s throne because of the merits of Christ. We aren’t to be bold because we’re so good or because we have it all together—it’s quite the opposite. Our boldness stems from Christ’s intercessory work and his ability to sympathize with us. It’s beautiful. We have boldness with the Father because Jesus is our Great High Priest.

In 1 Thessalonians 2:2, we’re told that the disciples had boldness.

But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict.

We can be bold with God because of Jesus, and we can also have boldness in evangelism because it’s God’s gospel. Here are three reasons we can be bold.

We can be bold because God is with us. Our boldness doesn’t come from ourselves. It comes from God. We are bold, as biblically defined, because God is always here. He is our strength, our fortress, our shield. Everywhere we go, everyone we speak to, God is there. We can rely on him. Because he is ever-present, we can be bold in our witness to the gospel because we know, whatever happens, he is with us.

We can be bold because God is sovereign. Because God is in control of all things, we can have confidence in him when we interact with others. Whatever comes our way, God is sovereign. And not only sovereign, but he is sovereign as our Heavenly Father. Even in his transcendence, he is close to us and cares for us. Therefore, this glorious truth compels us to be bold as Christians because God is sovereign.

We can be bold because God saves. Specifically in the context of evangelism, we have the ability to be bold because we know, at the end of the day, we’re not the ones doing the saving—God is. God perhaps will use us as instruments (which is a privilege), but he is the one who saves, the one who regenerates, the one who transforms the heart.

Friends, let’s be bold. Not arrogant, not smug, not cocky; but confident in God as we navigate this world and our relationship with him.