Audacious Faith

Audacious is as audacious does

"Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it." - Psalm 34:14

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Au-da-cious- adjective

1)      Extremely bold or daring, recklessly brave, fearless.

Audacious. It’s a word that isn’t used everyday and it’s a word many people don’t even know the meaning of. If you’re one of those people, and you didn’t read the definition, it means to be different. It means to do things that are completely out of the ordinary and maybe even unheard of.

You can say, I'm audacious. But it won't mean a thing unless your actions mirror those words.

If someone is audacious, they may say things that make other people really wonder about their sanity. They may take action that is ludicrous and at times, insane. They are bold. Completely and utterly bold.

Bold. <--- see that print? It sticks out.

Please imagine what it feels like to be audacious. Take a second and imagine yourself as a person that does things without a thought or care of what the world will think. Being audacious is more than just wearing crazy colors or following different trends. Being audacious is being completely brave. It’s hard to be bold in a world that gives you a way to live and frowns upon anyone who doesn’t meet the impossible standards it sets. Being bold isn’t just ignoring society’s standards, but setting your own standards.

I was on a mission trip with my youth group a few days ago, and we were sent to a place in the town we were staying that was completely different than any place I’d ever been. It was eye opening. We were sent to the projects.

Going into this place was like venturing into another world. If you live in the projects or if you have experienced the ghetto, you’ll understand what I’m saying when I tell you that there isn’t a white soul in that place. Or maybe you’ll disagree. It depends on where you've been. 

The people there thought we were crazy. Twenty white teenagers got out of a van in the middle of this dangerous neighborhood, started bouncing balls off of walls, playing music loudly, and blowing bubbles. Does this sound weird to you? It was weird. We were acting like goofballs.

Not only were we being childish, but we were acting as if it was the greatest place to be. Acting like this kind of thing happened every day, that it was no big deal. But it was. No one understood us. They thought we were crazy. Bold. Brave. Audacious.

Naturally the people in this neighborhood were poking their heads out of windows, talking to neighbors over then fence about the crazy white people, and eventually they were traveling over to us to have a look. Can you see now why we did this? We were drawing attention, trying to get people to come over and talk to us. We were just being ourselves.

Eventually little children were joining in and it turned into a huge gathering of people from different backgrounds coming together and loving one another despite the differences we had. It was amazing. We didn’t push our faith onto these people, but instead mentioned God in small ways. Through our actions and through the way we loved those children.

One person that stuck out to me wasn’t a child but a sixty-two year old man by the name of Earl. He was the kind of person you only meet once. A character like him only comes along once in a lifetime.  

Earl was wearing a janitor’s shirt, two pairs of sweatpants held up by a tied jump rope, wool socks, and tennis shoes. It was 96 degrees outside and these were the only clothes he owned. He has a stack of papers in his pocket which held pages an pages of scripture that he would share with anyone he came across.

He was crazy. That’s how people knew him. Crazy Earl.

He would jump around, shout, laugh at random things, and hug you with no explanation. But he was happy, so so so happy. He was the happiest person I’d ever seen. Why? Because he couldn’t wait to be in heaven.

He would repete over and over how much God loved each and every one of us. How we were brother and sister and we should always try to touch the people around us because there wasn't much time before this life was over.

“Man,” he would say, “Sometimes my air conditioning ain’t on, but I just say praise God!”

Or, “Man it’s hot out here, this is God telling us to keep it in line because hell is a whole lot hotter than this.”

The things he taught me were greater than any other preacher I’d heard speak. He talked about how this lifetime was a mist compared to the eternity we’ll spend in heaven. He’s right. This lifetime is going to be gone in an instant. We’ll be in eternity before we know it.

We gave him a new bible and he burst into tears. He said to us, “Thankyou. This is God saying, Earl read it again son, read it again.”

The fact that he could keep faith and be so grateful to the lord in his circumstance touched me. It hit me into the very depths of my very inner being and made my hert burst with happiness for the things God was doing in Earl’s life and every life that was there that day.

No matter who you are, what circumstance you’re in, praise him.

We can all have the kind of faith Earl has. Earl, the man who had read the bible 49 times. Earl, the man who had never lived anywhere but the projects. Earl, who had never been married. Earl, the crazy one. Earl, the man that was going to be one of the most honored men in heaven one day.

If anyone is audacious, it’s Earl. If anyone is living out loud for the Lord, it’s Earl.

You see, no matter who you are, how much you own, or who you are friends with- only one thing will save you from an eternity in hell. That’s God. I don’t care who you are or how good of a person you are, it won’t matter without Jesus Christ in your heart.

“No King is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength.” –Psalms 33:16

Do you see that? Do you understand that at all? It’s very clearly written. The Bible says right there that you will not get to heaven any other way that Jesus Christ.

You may be pretty and popular and you may have a boyfriend. So what? Do you realize you are the only one who really cares that much? You might live in a great neighborhood and own nice things. Does it really matter? Is that seriously what makes you feel important? 

Please take a step back and think for a moment if that's what drives you. Please.

"Their sins and lawless acts, I will remember no more." -Hebrew 10:17

That's God speaking. Is he looking to see if you dated the most boys or if you're the head cheerleader? No. No, he's not.

He's saying that the terrible things you do, he sees. When you made fun of that girl, he saw that. he saw you treat his daughter with hate. that's his child. Do you understand that? He created her. He made her special. She's important to him. Therefore, she's important to you.

 It really only matters in the long run how you choose to live your life. He's watching. He knows what your goals and dreams are. So are you going to live your life for the material things or for the Lord?

I'm going to choose the Lord. More importantly, I'm going to be audacious for the Lord. If I'm going to have faith, it's going to be bold. There's no other way to heaven. There is no other way to escape the devil. None.

So if you are thinking to yourself, this girl is crazy. Good. Thanks. I am crazy. Crazy for God.

Bold for God.

Brave for God.

Different for God.

And more than anything, I am audacious for God.

Author's note:

Ta da. That's being audacious right there. Please be audacious and comment. Tell me if this makes any sense at all to you or if you have something to contribute. I want to know. :)