Bold is Beautiful

1 Timothy 3:2-4 Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect.

Today is Father's Day. Not only am I thankful for my own dad today but the sweet husband I have who is Daddy to our four girls. On Sunday mornings, Scott leaves for church before seven. He was long gone when we gathered around the table for breakfast. Even though he wasn't there, I felt the need to inspire gratitude in my kids for what a great dad they have so we went around the table and said just one thing each that we were thankful for about Scott. The responses ranged from I'm thankful he makes money for our family to I'm thankful he makes me feel safe and protected to I'm thankful there's no cost he won't pay to follow Christ and be in God's will. He indeed is a wonderful father, boldly standing for Biblical fatherhood and marriage in a society that celebrates neither. He definitely should be celebrated today.

Today I am reading Acts 4:22-37. Peter and John have been released from prison after being stringently warned not to speak or teach about Jesus again. Now they are returning to their fellow believers who gather around them to pray. I try to think what I would pray for had I been in their shoes. Things like protection, wisdom and discernment immediately spring to my mind. After praising God for who He is (Verse 24) and acknowledging they indeed had strong opposition (Verses 25-28), they pray for only one thing - boldness.

This is the opposite of what I'd have been praying for. Born a people pleaser, I'd be much more concerned if I was offending someone than whether I was boldly proclaiming the Word of God. Verse 31 proclaims that God immediately responded to their prayer, for they "were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly". I wonder how it would change our country if every church boldly proclaimed every teaching found in Scripture. Even many of the strong, evangelical churches I've been associated with glossed over or ignored entirely parts of the Bible that might prove unpopular in our modern day society.

God has graciously given me a living example of godly boldness. My husband boldly leads our family and God's church according to Biblical principles and is unafraid of any opposition that might arise. He is resolute in his principles and steadfast in accomplishing what God leads him to complete. Maybe this Father's Day, what I really need to learn is a lesson in boldness.

Sweet Jesus, today my singular prayer will be for boldness. I ask for the kind of boldness that speaks the truth in love, that lives according to Your principles alone and that doesn't shrink in the face of strong opposition.