If one of the basic elements of our Christian faith is freedom, then I think another may be the willingness to take risks. This doesn’t come naturally, of course. We need to learn when and where best to step forward in faith.
Small children, for instance, will often cling to their parent’s side because, in a world filled with uncertainties, they need to feel safe and secure. However, I have always believed that part of the job of being a good parent is to encourage and help one’s children know how to take risks. Not the foolish risks that teenagers sometimes undertake for the sake of peer approval, but the kind of risks that are necessary for growth and maturity.
Let’s face it—the Christian faith has never been well suited for safe harbors and island fortresses. It has a way of stagnating when the waters of life get too calm and placid. Jesus is always “going on before us,” beckoning us, like God beckoned Abraham, into new and uncharted territory.
Consider the religious practices of the Pharisees. That was about as sure a thing as you could find. They knew exactly what was expected of them and exactly what they needed to do to be righteous people. It required some effort, sure … but little risk. It was basically a religion of “better safe than sorry.”
And Jesus took one look at them and declared that their faith was as good as dead and their hearts as cold as tombstones. In effect, the Pharisees were so bound to their better-safe-than-sorry policy that they were blind to the miracle of the Savior coming into their very midst.
As Christians, we have been set free from all of that. We can take risk, ask questions, entertain dreams, and try bold things because we are secure in the love which will never let us go, the love of a God who is always in front of us, leading us onward. Indeed, I believe that part of growing up is learning to live without firm assurances, without all of our questions answered, without everything nailed down. Perhaps that is why faith is best defined not as firm and unquestionable belief … but as trust.
Small children, for instance, will often cling to their parent’s side because, in a world filled with uncertainties, they need to feel safe and secure. However, I have always believed that part of the job of being a good parent is to encourage and help one’s children know how to take risks. Not the foolish risks that teenagers sometimes undertake for the sake of peer approval, but the kind of risks that are necessary for growth and maturity.
Let’s face it—the Christian faith has never been well suited for safe harbors and island fortresses. It has a way of stagnating when the waters of life get too calm and placid. Jesus is always “going on before us,” beckoning us, like God beckoned Abraham, into new and uncharted territory.
Consider the religious practices of the Pharisees. That was about as sure a thing as you could find. They knew exactly what was expected of them and exactly what they needed to do to be righteous people. It required some effort, sure … but little risk. It was basically a religion of “better safe than sorry.”
And Jesus took one look at them and declared that their faith was as good as dead and their hearts as cold as tombstones. In effect, the Pharisees were so bound to their better-safe-than-sorry policy that they were blind to the miracle of the Savior coming into their very midst.
As Christians, we have been set free from all of that. We can take risk, ask questions, entertain dreams, and try bold things because we are secure in the love which will never let us go, the love of a God who is always in front of us, leading us onward. Indeed, I believe that part of growing up is learning to live without firm assurances, without all of our questions answered, without everything nailed down. Perhaps that is why faith is best defined not as firm and unquestionable belief … but as trust.
posted by Dr. Robert Crilley at
6:23 PM
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