RISKY BUSINESS

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     How would you rate yourself as a risk-taker?  I'm not necessarily talking about skydiving or bungee jumping or putting your entire portfolio in Facebook stock.  Some of us are by nature risk-takers, while others are natural risk-averters.  No matter what your natural bent is, risk-taking is part of the spiritual journey that God has planned for us all.  He has another name for it.  He calls it "faith".
     Faith is pivotal to our knowing, experiencing, following and pleasing God.  James tells us that "faith without works is dead".  That statement has been debated over the centuries, but, basically, what I believe he's saying is that if you simply say you have faith in God, but it's not leading you to any behavior that's outside your comfort zone, then your rhetoric is nice, but probably hollow and just some words that sound good and help you sleep better at night.
     Faith, by it's nature, moves you to risky business.  It causes you to "zig" when you are much more comfortable "zagging".  It causes you to do some things that are outside your character, because, even though they are outside your character, they are central to God's character.  Faith causes us to do some things that don't add up on paper...because God is not limited to the same math we are.  Faith always pushes us out of the safety of the known into the discomfort of the unknown.  Faith is all about risk.  Not risk simply for the sake of risk, but the risks God personally leads us into.
     So, what's your risk quotient?  God says, "Let's take it up a notch!".

Read Hebrews 11

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