Back to School with Boldness

Published on August 31, 2008 by Danny Strange

Driving away from Summer Camp at Alliance Redwoods, the first landmark that you pass is a sign for the neighboring Camp Meeker. I laugh out loud every time I think of this sign, because it gives me an image of a child returning home from Camp, met with inquisitive parents…

In my strange, mental picture, an excited mother asks her son, “Johnny, how do you feel after spending a week at Camp?”

Staring at his toes and with a small, squeaky voice, Johnny sheepishly answers, “Meeker.”

Now, while meekness is a virtue, it is not the disposition that I would normally associate with Christian Camping. If you’ve been there, you know it: Summer Camp is loud and crazy. After a week of insane recreation, amazing worship, and life-changing messages, you come home excited about Jesus Christ and ready to shout to the world how He has changed your life. As far as faith is concerned, you don’t come home meeker, you come home bolder.

Chances are, if you went to camp this Summer, you came home ready to make some changes in your life.  You’ve given up some bad habits.  You’ve picked up some good ones.  Most of all, you’ve resolved to change the world for the cause of Christ and proclaim to your campus this fall that he alone can save.  You have decided to be bold.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives us two images that put flesh on this concept of boldness. Urging Christians to make a difference for His name, Jesus calls His followers to be “salt and light.”

BE SALT

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men” (Matthew 5:13).

I remember one time accidentally making chocolate cookies with salt instead of sugar. From the look on my mother’s face when she popped the abomination of confections into her mouth, I learned one valuable lesson: Salt is bold.

There is no mistaking the fact that salt affects things. If you dump salt into a recipe, your food will be irrevocably changed. Scattering salt on wintry mountain roads helps with dangerous icy conditions. Curing raw meat with salt will help it to last for a long time before spoiling.

In Jesus’ day, salt was most widely used in this third manner: as a preservative. Due to lack of refrigeration, food would quickly spoil in the hot desert sun. A salt cure would enable meat to be kept and stored for long periods of time without going rancid.

Using this image of salt as a preservative, Jesus calls his followers the “salt of the earth” and urges them to not “lose their saltiness.” One way that our Lord calls us to be bold is by merely existing in the world and allowing our purity to quietly affect the people around us.

This Fall, as you return to your campus, be bold through purity! If your friends tend to use “salty” language (excuse the pun), be bold and let your speech be pure. If you’re invited to go somewhere that you know you shouldn’t, be bold and decline the invitation. If a boyfriend or girlfriend pressures you to do something and you know that you should run away, be bold and run! This Fall, make purity a top priority and live as salt on your campus.

BE LIGHT

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden; neither does anyone light a lamp and put it under a bowl, but on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven” Matthew 5:14 - 16.

One of the strange projects that I attempted during my High School days was building a photography lab in my house. I bought an enlarger and all the necessary chemicals and equipment, and then set out to make my bathroom into a darkroom.

The first step in building a darkroom is making a room…well…dark. You wouldn’t believe how hard a time I had with this! I closed the door and noticed light coming in the window. I put a board over the window, and light came in around the door. I taped down the door frame and then noticed light rushing in through the keyhole!

Light has a tendency to shine: it’s in its nature! Jesus calls us the light of the world because he wants us to reflect His glory in all that we do and show people that He is God. When our lives are filled with the love of Christ, that love should shine out towards the people we meet. When our hearts are filled with excitement about Jesus, our words should overflow out of those hearts. If you want to be bold at your school this Fall, do it by shining out God’s love.

Since shining is what light does, all Jesus calls us to do is “let our light shine!” You don’t have to conjure up some fake Christiany talk to try to sound like a Christian, or pretend to be someone you’re not to shine for Jesus. If God has changed your life, stay close to Him as you go back to school and let that relationship shine out for the world to see! Be bold this year by being light on your campus!

WARNING:

Before I close, let me make a disclaimer: Living the bold life won’t be easy! If you stop using bad language, your friends might make fun of you because you don’t talk like them. If you refuse to go to out sometimes, they might stop asking you to hang out in general. You might even find yourself single because your boyfriend or girlfriend dumps you when you try to put boundaries on your relationship. If this happens, don’t give up: This might be part of God’s plan!

In the Bible, Peter wrote a letter to a church who lived in a really impure environment. In his letter, he said these words: “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us” (1 Peter 2:12). Peter tells his friends that if they live as salt and light, people will make fun of them! Still, the good news is that ultimately the Christians’ boldness will lead to their friends coming to know Jesus.

So be bold by being salt and light this year! God will use you in amazing ways on your campus this Fall if you refuse to lose your saltiness by giving in to peer pressure. God will change the lives of the people around you if you let your light shine.

Be bold this year as you go back to school: I’ll be praying for you!