Bold As A Lion – March 28, 2023 (91/365) – JB's Personal Brain Defragmenter

The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.

Proverbs 28:1

Here we see yet another reason for us to be thankful to God, His love, and how we have seen it first and foremost through Christ and His finished work. For see, before we gave the Gospel of Grace any sort of intentional consideration, and before we believed in Jesus Christ, this was our state – that we flee, even when nobody pursues. It’s the exact opposite of when people say that they have nothing to be afraid of – the wicked, unfortunately, have everything to be afraid of.

Could you imagine even the smallest of things causing us to complain, if not to scream outright in terror? That may be an exaggeration, but while we are absent from Christ, fear is our default state, and while fear is our default state, it manifests in our being – in our bodies, as disease, and in our words, as complaints and curses.

Why are the righteous bold as a lion? Well, first and foremost, we learn in the light of the New Covenant that those who are truly righteous have been made righteous by way of their believing in Jesus Christ. Those who have given intentional consideration to the good news of God’s love as seen through His Son’s death and resurrection – they’re who we’re referring to as righteous. It’s important for us to mention this before moving any further because it’s Christ’s righteousness that is the reason and confidence behind our saying that we are righteous, and as Christ is the Lion of Judah, so we are as bold to take on this life… bold, as lions.

So while the wicked are full of ideas and devise all sorts of reasons to flee, we are full of grace, mercy, and truth; We are filled with perfect love that casts our all fear; we are overflowing with Christ, and that’s all the reason, and all the Truth we have for us to move.

All this time I’ve been talking about how this year was a year of movement, and while we’ve both announced it at the beginning of this year, and discussed it in detail throughout the rest of the first quarter, we see how Christ is the reason and the power and the peace behind our movement, and in our movement, we find reason, peace, and power in Christ.

And speaking of lions… Well, I just have to take this time to appreciate a song that’s been brought to my attention. See, the leadership of our church has called upon me, along the rest of the talent we have in all of our services and ministries, to lead worship this coming April 9 – Easter Sunday, or Resurrection Sunday.

One of the songs that we were supposed to internalize as early as yesterday was Elevation Worship’s Lion – and while I had my doubts about this song as I first listened to it, as I kept listening to it, it definitely resonated with me, and I grooved with it. It came out as more of a chant, and though it seemed repetitive, I think it was composed in such a way that it would really stick into the minds of both those who led it or just ultimately listened and sang it, way after the song was played.

The residual thoughts – or the ‘Last Song Syndrome’ we like to keep on mentioning – have us singing truths. If we aren’t telling God to supernaturally intervene in our mountains or our valleys, we’re just worshipping Christ for who He is (on top of the usual), by reminding ourselves in song, that He is the Lion of Judah who roars in victory.

I feel as if this is precisely how bold we ought to be as lions.

Our being made righteous was no easy task for our Savior, but He was willing to endure everything that came as a consequence of sin, so there would be no question of our reconciliation. He was willing to get His hands dirty as they needed to be, if only it meant our full and absolute redemption. And while this in itself should more or less produce in us a confidence for us to do the same, what really gets us going and keeps us going is the heart behind the hands – or rather, the Love behind the Life.

God SO loved us that He got His hands dirty for us to be cleaned and reconciled; Christ loved us so much that He died for us to live, and to live forever. And as we take this in, and as this Truth resonates in us and multiplies within our being as a flood, we would have no choice but to overflow in joy, and in peace and power. We overflow by way of our testifying, and our literal lives – every breath we take, down to the most complex of compositions we may have to share to the world – ALL of our lives are a perpetual extension of Christ’s absolute victory over sin and death.

The Lion roars, and we are emboldened, for not only have we heard it, but we are literally living it. The world hears His roar because we live.

We are emboldened, because we have been set free from the wickedness. We have been set free from the sin that leads to death, and the death that leaves us in perpetual and endless fear, seeping out of our existence.

We are emboldened, because we have been set free towards life, because we have been proclaimed righteous, only through Christ and His finished work. Because we are righteous, we are alive, and not only are we alive, but we are in perpetual and endless love, a perfect love that casts out fear.

There it is. We have a perfect love in Christ; and this perfect love not only casts out fear, but makes us bold as lions.

Thank You so much, Jesus. Thank You for all that you have done. Roar in victory, o Lion of Judah.

Until the next post, God bless you.