Playing It Safe is Risky

How often do we settle for less than amazing because amazing takes us outside our comfort zone?

I vividly remember the summer my mother enrolled me in swimming lessons. I can still smell the chlorine, feel the roughness of the concrete pool deck under my legs, and the pull of my rubber swim cap against my hair. I loved learning to swim and I was a natural. For our final lesson, the instructors brought in a modified diving board. To “dive”, you climbed a couple of steps up to a platform and then jumped from the platform onto a square trampoline that hung over the water. You were then catapulted into the pool. I can remember climbing to the top of the platform and feeling my knees begin to shake. I am sure the platform was less than four feet tall, but the thought of landing on the trampoline terrified 8-year-old me. I failed the final testing because I refused to risk the jump.

In hindsight, it wasn’t the height of the platform that kept me from jumping. It was not knowing how I would land.

In Matthew 19, a rich young man approached Jesus to find out what he needed to do to gain eternal life. Jesus explained he needed to be obedient, but if he wanted to be perfect, he needed to sell all his possessions and give to the poor. The young man left very sad because he had great wealth.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” Matthew 19:23-24

Western culture has taught us there is security in our stuff. If we have a good job, good health, a good retirement, we are successful. Unfortunately, just like the rich man, it becomes easy to rely on our stuff instead of our God to keep us secure.

We have found ways to attend church and serve the Lord while keeping one eye on our camel. We are at peace with our lifestyle and the knowledge all is secure. The problem is we can’t truly harness the power and destiny God has for us when our hands and our time are busy with our stuff. We live good lives but we don’t live great lives.

If we want our faith to grow, if we want to serve the Lord with everything we have and everything we are, we must be willing to give up control and trust the Lord for the outcome.

When Jesus sent his disciples out to proclaim the kingdom of God and heal the sick, he told them to “take nothing for the journey.” Why? So there would be no question about the source of their power and authority.

Jesus hasn’t changed his pattern. When he begins to call us to a new level of service, there are always baggage limits. The bigger the calling, the more likely the excess in our lives will need to stay behind. Does that mean you can’t have nice things? Of course not. What it means, is that you can’t have nice things that mean more to you than serving God. It’s the attitude not the stuff.

When we travel, I am notorious for over packing. I want to make sure I have the right clothing, the right shoes, the right supplies for any contingency on our journey. From hotel to hotel, we haul those heavy bags in and out, packing and repacking them. It’s not unusual for both of us to have our hands full and bags on our backs as we move through an airport. We look like pack mules.

I tend to want to use the same packing technique for my ministry opportunities. I want to plan and prepare and consider and discuss and know and control BEFORE I step out in faith. I want to understand the cost, the commitment, the sacrifice. I want to know how I am going to land.

Sad to say, many times I spend so much time packing for the opportunity that I miss the opportunity completely.

Faith is risky business: When we reach the point where the fear of missing out is bigger than the fear of messing up our prevailing attitude changes from “How Lord?” to “Yes Lord!” It’s not an easy process, but each time we say “yes” our faith grows a little more. Eventually we realize the Lord is big enough to catch us – we just need to be willing to jump.