So I was talking with one of the youth leaders from the church that’s hosting us today. And after talking for awhile, he decided to give me a challenge, something that he thought I should work on: and that is taking risks. And I guess it was something I’ve been thinking about for awhile, I agreed it was something I needed, and also I wanted to do. In fact part of my reason for coming on this trip was to challenge myself, and to do something that would require a lot of faith. But even now, as I am finally here in Africa, I have become very much “settled” again, and life has become more of routine than a faith-based style of living. It is hard to live everyday based on faith, but I do believe it can be done. Tash, the guy I was talking to today, just mentioned how he is always thankful to God that he makes it home safe every day, because there are just so many things that can go wrong on something as simple as a drive home. But he also sometimes steps out in faith, and takes risks, he will go up to strangers and start conversations, he will pray for healing over the disabled, he speaks whatever God is prompting him to say, no matter how crazy it might sound. And through all these things, God is growing his faith.
But even your risk-taking must go back to a deeper source within. It is not always as simply as making a one-time decision to do something and then you are living by faith. You must also have strong convictions about what you believe. If you genuinely believe what the Bible tell us is true, then you would not be afraid of what Jesus commands us to do. Set free the captives, proclaim good news to the poor, heal the sick, and raise the dead even! Jesus performed miracles so that the people would believe the truth of his testimony. His apostles did the same, and why can we not also have the faith necessary to at least pray for miracles to happen? We rationalize and we put off and we ignore these things. But God commands us to have faith, to go out and make disciples of all the world! Surely we are in a risky business. Just think of the risks that Jesus had to take every day: constantly the Jews were after his very life, and the crowds could easily turn on Him to stone him at any time. He even knew the risk he would have to take in carrying the cross for our sins, and yet He took it. He did not back down, and he did not give up. Why can’t we also just step out in a little bit of faith? The Bible says if we have faith as small as a mustard seed we can say to a mountain: ‘be thrown into the sea,’ and it will be done. If we have faith we can shake the very foundations of this world!! Do you believe that the God of the universe is on your side? I challenge anyone who does believe in the God of the universe, to step out and do something for God, or pray for something big to happen. Pray with your friends that the foundations of this world would be shaken. Taking risks might look different for different people. For some it might mean building deeper relationships with the people around you; or showing generosity to those in need, or hospitality to others. For me I think it mostly has to do with taking courage to stand up for what I believe in: speaking what’s on my mind, standing against injustice, and speaking to strangers about what I believe in. Whatever it is you struggle with the most, I challenge you to do that, and to do it for God.
God bless and I miss you all back home!
