Second blog post of the day or as I call it procrastination from what I should be doing. After writing the first post (read it here) I was reminded of something else that I wanted to share. Because in writing what I believe to be truth I somewhat failed to show God's grace. And God's grace is what its all about.
So let me share another piece of my heart, but forgive me for being a bit cryptic cause it is not totally my story to share.
See I've learned a little something about fear in the past few months. Something that led me to preach not only to who ever might be reading, but to myself as well. I learned first hand what its like to have the devil come sneaking into your house. Looking to kill, steal and destroy. Honestly he was able to do it because we had let down our guard. We had taken for granted that things were ok. That we couldnt be led astray. But in the midst of me seeking to lead others (caught in sin) to God, the devil came through the back door of my own home and threatened to lead someone in my family directly into the very sin I was seeking to bring others out of.
He sought to destroy a part of my heart by reaching in and destroying the things I hold most dear. The very things that could bring me to my knees. And let me tell you I have never felt fear like that before. I have never so quickly shut down, turned away and hid out. Satan knew what he was doing. He knew that he could quickly put an end to any good being done by attacking the things closest to me.
He did just that!! Because I turned tail and ran. I ran from what God had been doing and I didnt care whether God was telling me to do it or not. All I knew was I refused to risk my family.
But there have been consequences to my actions. A soul that needed love, but I refused to give it. Someone that was seeking God and I refused to walk with them.
Now this is where grace comes in. I know God understands that I was afraid and that just because I refused to follow doesnt mean he loves me less. He offers grace that I so often refuse to others (note the very outright self righteousness of my last post).
I also know he saw it coming as I foolishly served everyone but my own family. Because serving God doesnt mean you set your family aside. In fact you must strengthen them. You must walk it out with them before you walk it out with the world. Remember I said riskiness is not the same as recklessness. It's not your family or the world. Its your family and the world. In fact the legacy left behind from a family commited to Christ cannot be destroyed.
So the point of all this is I understand fear and I understand counting the cost and not running into things rashly. I understand that living out this risky business is no small thing. Its not from some mountain top that I say to take a risk. Its from a valley, more like a pit. Its said in the humbleness that comes from failing miserably both on the homefront and on the front lines. I have yet to walk back into that hard place and face that fear. I still shake. I still dont know how to live a risky live and to protect my family; but I'm starting to see if I had been walking closely with God the risk wouldnt have been as great. Not because their was no danger, but because we would have been equipped to handle the danger. The danger couldnt have stolen our souls. Thats grace for risky business. Grace that says your not walking alone. Grace that says you dont have to have it all figured out. Grace that says you might not get it all right, but if you risk it you want get it all wrong either.
Showing posts with label risky business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label risky business. Show all posts
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Risky business.....
God has been really working on our hearts lately. Preparing us for something that so many call risky and Ive heard the strangest comments from some people in the faith that I felt it needs to be addressed. We so mistake what God asks from us. Thinking that God's will for our lives is something that comes in burning bushes or through some imaginary "call" and does not involve risk of any kind. We take our emotions as indicators of what we are supposed to do (if were fearful dont do it, if were not go ahead), ignoring God's clear commands.
You dont have to ask is it God's will to care for the poor, for widows, for orphans (James 1:27). It is!! God clearly says in the bible to do these things just as he tells us to love him and love others. We make such a mess of the simplest things. True this might look different to some people, but its not a waiting game. Its not a aha moment where you will know without a shadow of doubt your doing the right thing. It's not a call we receive. Everyday is a daily prayer, a daily opening of your hearts. a daily walk that leaves room for God. If you ask God to show you how to live out these commands he will show you today, not some time in the future. He does not ask us to wait til our kids are grown or our lives are more put together. We align our lives daily to God and in the process God's holy spirit is poured out, transforming us and our family in the process.
This Christian life is risky business, but we have made a terrible assumption that God would not call us to risk our lives, risk our families. By all means count the cost, but dont assume that God would not put you and your family in situations that are risky. Everyday God sends families oversees to areas that are dangerous. Everyday all across the world just being a Christian is dangerous and families have to make the hard decision as to whether they renounce Christ or risk the lives of the very people God entrusted to their care.
Too often we love the blessings more than the God that gave them. We love the promises more than the God who has every right to fulfill those promises through painful circumstances. We see it in the life of Abraham who was told he would be the father of a great nation, that he would father a son, but Abraham started loving the promise more than his God and in the end God had to make sure that Abraham still chose him. Which thankfully he did when he laid his son (the very thing God had promised) on an altar to sacrifice him (Gen 22).
So today I sit realizing that if Scott and I choose to foster, adopt, run off to some other 3rd world country that we might not have the support of all of our family in Christ. We might have those who think we are foolish or endangering our own children. Their might be those that think we will be taking away from the kids that God gave us through natural birth. But I know this.... I serve a mighty God that enables me (through his holy spirit) to LOVE BIG. A God who will walk with my family through the risky places. A God who made us in his image (Gen 1:27); the image of a God who loves the whole world, who gave his own (natural) son for the sake of something greater, who is merciful and able.We are made in that image.
And yes there are questions and yes we have things to work out in the process. Things that God equally commands us to do such as being responsible with our finances, providing for our immediate family (1Tim 5:8), teaching and equipping the children we have now. But these things are not the final product. They are the refining process in the midst of something greater. What if our finances are handled so that were able to give more, not get more? What if my kids learn about God not by the stories we read to them every night from the bible, but by living out our own story that reflects the stories in the bible? What if we impress God's commandments on our children's hearts (Deuteronomy 6) because they are already deeply impressed upon our own?
Risky is not the same as reckless and if were not careful we will associate any risk with recklessness. We will see danger on the path ahead and choose to not to walk it. Choose to live such safe lives that our families miss learning about a God that provides and protects. Miss learning about a God that called a nation (families, singles, elderly, infants) into a desert and then provided them with just enough to get by until they entered the promised land. Well our promised land is not a land of our own here on earth, but we live like it is. We live holding to old testament promises forgetting that their is a new convenant that promises something greater then a land of milk and honey. That's the promise I will hold on too. I will not limit our God by some false ideas that Ive created because Im scared. Because Im scared that if I bring a child with emotional challenges into our family that he/she may hurt one of my children. Because Im scared that if I travel into the heart of a 3rd world country that my children might not make it out alive.
See the persecution we see in the bible was meant to spread the gospel not stop it. When God persecuted them it was meant to take them further into the world, but we've used persecution as an excuse to make our lives smaller. We used moments in the bible where a person was warned not to go to a place because of a risk of danger as our own personal commandment. Instead of looking at it through God's eyes and seeing that he did that to expand the kingdom not supress it.
Honestly my greatest fear in moving forward is facing the fact that so many of my brothers and sisters in Christ might not actually be my brothers and sisters in Christ (Matt 7:21). Im afraid of risking relationships. Risking losing those closest to me who out of fear will not walk the hard path beside me. Risking losing a romantic view of my friends and family, but I will because following Christ is risky business. You risk losing not only your life, but everything you hold dear. You risk losing the faith you were raised with for true faith. You risk losing assumptions, security and your dreams.
(Go to my next post for grace for this risky business.)
You dont have to ask is it God's will to care for the poor, for widows, for orphans (James 1:27). It is!! God clearly says in the bible to do these things just as he tells us to love him and love others. We make such a mess of the simplest things. True this might look different to some people, but its not a waiting game. Its not a aha moment where you will know without a shadow of doubt your doing the right thing. It's not a call we receive. Everyday is a daily prayer, a daily opening of your hearts. a daily walk that leaves room for God. If you ask God to show you how to live out these commands he will show you today, not some time in the future. He does not ask us to wait til our kids are grown or our lives are more put together. We align our lives daily to God and in the process God's holy spirit is poured out, transforming us and our family in the process.
This Christian life is risky business, but we have made a terrible assumption that God would not call us to risk our lives, risk our families. By all means count the cost, but dont assume that God would not put you and your family in situations that are risky. Everyday God sends families oversees to areas that are dangerous. Everyday all across the world just being a Christian is dangerous and families have to make the hard decision as to whether they renounce Christ or risk the lives of the very people God entrusted to their care.
Too often we love the blessings more than the God that gave them. We love the promises more than the God who has every right to fulfill those promises through painful circumstances. We see it in the life of Abraham who was told he would be the father of a great nation, that he would father a son, but Abraham started loving the promise more than his God and in the end God had to make sure that Abraham still chose him. Which thankfully he did when he laid his son (the very thing God had promised) on an altar to sacrifice him (Gen 22).
So today I sit realizing that if Scott and I choose to foster, adopt, run off to some other 3rd world country that we might not have the support of all of our family in Christ. We might have those who think we are foolish or endangering our own children. Their might be those that think we will be taking away from the kids that God gave us through natural birth. But I know this.... I serve a mighty God that enables me (through his holy spirit) to LOVE BIG. A God who will walk with my family through the risky places. A God who made us in his image (Gen 1:27); the image of a God who loves the whole world, who gave his own (natural) son for the sake of something greater, who is merciful and able.We are made in that image.
And yes there are questions and yes we have things to work out in the process. Things that God equally commands us to do such as being responsible with our finances, providing for our immediate family (1Tim 5:8), teaching and equipping the children we have now. But these things are not the final product. They are the refining process in the midst of something greater. What if our finances are handled so that were able to give more, not get more? What if my kids learn about God not by the stories we read to them every night from the bible, but by living out our own story that reflects the stories in the bible? What if we impress God's commandments on our children's hearts (Deuteronomy 6) because they are already deeply impressed upon our own?
Risky is not the same as reckless and if were not careful we will associate any risk with recklessness. We will see danger on the path ahead and choose to not to walk it. Choose to live such safe lives that our families miss learning about a God that provides and protects. Miss learning about a God that called a nation (families, singles, elderly, infants) into a desert and then provided them with just enough to get by until they entered the promised land. Well our promised land is not a land of our own here on earth, but we live like it is. We live holding to old testament promises forgetting that their is a new convenant that promises something greater then a land of milk and honey. That's the promise I will hold on too. I will not limit our God by some false ideas that Ive created because Im scared. Because Im scared that if I bring a child with emotional challenges into our family that he/she may hurt one of my children. Because Im scared that if I travel into the heart of a 3rd world country that my children might not make it out alive.
See the persecution we see in the bible was meant to spread the gospel not stop it. When God persecuted them it was meant to take them further into the world, but we've used persecution as an excuse to make our lives smaller. We used moments in the bible where a person was warned not to go to a place because of a risk of danger as our own personal commandment. Instead of looking at it through God's eyes and seeing that he did that to expand the kingdom not supress it.
Honestly my greatest fear in moving forward is facing the fact that so many of my brothers and sisters in Christ might not actually be my brothers and sisters in Christ (Matt 7:21). Im afraid of risking relationships. Risking losing those closest to me who out of fear will not walk the hard path beside me. Risking losing a romantic view of my friends and family, but I will because following Christ is risky business. You risk losing not only your life, but everything you hold dear. You risk losing the faith you were raised with for true faith. You risk losing assumptions, security and your dreams.
(Go to my next post for grace for this risky business.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)