Shirley
The Risk-Free L
When was the last time you took a risk?
I mean really think about it, when was the last time you got out of your comfort zone and dared to do something that made you feel utterly uncomfortable, inadequate or unqualified?
I know that not everyone is going to agree with my new found adage that goes something like this: “taking risks is part and parcel of living a free and fulfilling life.” However, as I get older, I am quickly learning that those who are willing to take risks at different stages of their lives often live more impactfully and successful lives especially if the risk is motivated by the Holy Spirit. Indeed, looking at the growth journey of characters in the bible, you quickly realise that as you continue to walk with God at different stages of growth, you will be required to take a risk, a leap of faith in order to progress into a new season. Example, look at the story of Abraham, the first risk he had to take was to leave everything behind, his family and everything and had come to grow and love and find comfort in, and follow God into a new land he knew nothing about. Imagine having to leave everything and everyone you know in order to go “someplace”. God did not even tell him where he was moving to; all Abraham was told was to move to a place where God would show him (Genesis 12). Despite not knowing where he was moving to Abraham decided to take a risk and to trust God; he chose to take a leap of faith and jump deep into the unknown. Secondly, Abraham took the risk to live by faith and trust that God would bless them with a child even after they both passed their child bearing years. Abraham was 75 years old when God called him and promised to make him a father of nations (Genesis 12:1–4). He was 86 when Ishmael, who was not the promised child, was born (Genesis 16:16) and 100 when Isaac, the promised child (Genesis 17:19, 21), was born (Genesis 21:5). Thirdly, he had to take the risk and trust God even when He asked him to sacrifice his son, the son God had promised him (Genesis 22:2).
In the end God provided a sacrifice and Abraham did not have to sacrifice his son, but because of that one Act of taking a risk and trusting God, God opened the flood gates of blessings for Abraham and his descendants thereafter. All the above three big risk required faith and trust in God. I ask you now, if God asked you to do what Abraham did, would you take the risk?Indeed, if you really take a close look at what it means to follow Jesus and to live your life based by faith, you will realise that it involves a lot of risk taking and trusting God despite what is evident in the present.
This truly convicted me. This is because I am one of those people who dislikes risk in any and every form. My nature is to always play it safe and to avoid risks at any cost both personally or professionally. Basically, my philosophy in life is often to try and live a life that is averse to risk. I like to live a safe life; however, I do not mind watching people taking risks, but I like to watch them with my binoculus from the comfort of my risk-free existence. This safe place I try to create for myself, this place where there is no need for faith, just safety according to what the world defines as safe is where I often find comfort and refuse to move or to push myself into the unknown. A place where certainty is the security. As I write about this type of existence, the irony of it all keeps being hammered into my spirit. How can I claim to be a Christian, a believer who lives by faith yet my foundational goal in life is to try to create for myself a life that requires no faith, yet I claim to be a believer? Can you see the irony of it all? Basically, I want to live a life where I can trust in my works. Where I can trust only in what I can see with my physical eyes. Yet, living a glorious and impactful life requires taking risks here and there. Ask anyone who is successful, and they will all have the story of when they had to take a risk and believe that what they had to offer in the moment was worth taking a risk for. Even being one’s true self, no one’s true authentic and unadulterated self, never mind what people think, requires taking a big risk and trusting that the way God made you is wonderful and perfect. In fact, having anything that is worthwhile in this life requires taking a risk whether you are aware of it or not. Even following God and living by faith is taking the risk and trusting that God is good and He has not just a plan, but a good one for your life. It involves submitting your will and even the dreams your desires and trusting them in God’s hand. That is probably why the bible reiterates that the just shall live by faith ( Hebrews 10: 38; Romans 1:17), Habakkuk 2:4). Further the good book defines faith as: Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1 ), what the world would probably define as taking a risk because believing in what you cannot see is not certain.
Basically, the act of having faith is nothing more than taking a risk and trusting that God is good and has your best interest at heart even when things may not look the way you want or go the way you expected. It is taking the risk and trusting that God is good when it is all said and done. Yes, it is following Christ even when things look risky and impossible according to our physical eyes is part and parcel of being a Christian. There is no escape from this risk business because we serve a God who operates in the impossible, we serve a God who demands our utmost trust, and most importantly we serve a God who does not see things the way we see them, and so what may look like a risk through our own physical eyes is actually living in faith. God is in the business of doing the impossible which is as good as requiring his people to be willing to take a risk. You cannot believe in the impossible if you are not willing to take a risk. Believing the impossible requires us to take a risk. Trusting God is a risk, trusting that what He wants or allows or asks of us is good for us even when it may look like a risk. However, following Him no matter what the cost is worth the risk because it is the only way to have a fulfilled and purposeful life.
Readings
Hebrews 11
Faith in Action
11 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.
3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.
5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.”[a] For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.
8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she[b] considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.
16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”
19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.
20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.
21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.
22 By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.
23 By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.
24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.
29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.
31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.
32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were put to death by stoning;[e] they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.
39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
Samuel 17: David & Goliath:
Exodus 14: The Red Sea Crossing:
Daniel 3: Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego and the Fiery Furnace
Judges 7:17–22: Gideon’s Army of 300 Men
Joshua 6:1–27 the walls of Jericho fell
(Matthew 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-34; Luke 5:1-11) As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him. 21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
For we walk by faith, not by sight.
So, faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
And be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—
For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness.
Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”
Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.
But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?
Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
For in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God, through faith.
As we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
“Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.”
“For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.”