It’s an interesting question, isn’t it: how we appear as Christians, how we come across before other people. It can be a problem; sometimes we put on a face, we present ourselves a certain way, but we’re not really real and authentic sometimes in those ways.
The Bible says some things about who we are, in fact. There’s an amazing passage in 2 Corinthians 3 where Paul talks about our shining forth the glory of God in our face. In fact, it’s the face of the glory of Christ shining forth to each other and also to other people. It’s in the midst of this passage that Paul contrasts his own boldness with not covering his face compared with Moses who did cover his face. As Moses covered his face, Paul implies that the glory of God was not shining forth among the people, but he says we with uncovered faces are shining forth God’s glory. The whole passage seems to be saying that I, Paul, can’t help but be bold. I can’t help but let the glory of God, the joy of God, shine forth in my face. So as we think about the subject of boldness—in letting the Lord shine forth in our face, in letting who we are as Christians shine forth—it ought to be something that’s authentic.
So as we think about the subject of boldness—in letting the Lord shine forth in our face, in letting who we are as Christians shine forth—it ought to be something that’s authentic. We ought to allow this glory of God, even though we are jars of clay as he goes on to say, we should allow this treasure that we have to shine forth to others. We should not be obnoxious, of course, with unbelievers, but there is a sense in which we can’t help but have this glory shine forth, this treasure that we have, show itself to others, even though we are jars of clay.
- 55Shares
