Risking it all...how about you?

We can be on our way toward doing one thing, but find ourselves called upon to do something else without warning. I was on my way back to bed at 3:30 this morning after tending for mom's needs - she was on her way to set the electric tea kettle to the "on" position as she was up for the day! I was heading one way with one mission in mind - sleep. Mom was headed another - with a totally different mission for me in mind! We can have our days or moments interrupted. Our desires and our plans can endure interruptions. Even our relationships and our health can be interrupted. We never know when that interruption may mean an adjustment in our course. Jesus was on his way one day to accomplish one healing he'd been called upon to do, (that of the dead daughter),  when a totally different use of his healing power was called upon, (the healing of the woman with the issue of blood). It is the woman that I wish to focus on this morning. Not specifically her need, but her faith - her faith to interrupt such an important task for the one she had in mind.

As he finished saying this, a local official appeared, bowed politely, and said, "My daughter has just now died. If you come and touch her, she will live." Jesus got up and went with him, his disciples following along. Just then a woman who had hemorrhaged for twelve years slipped in from behind and lightly touched his robe. She was thinking to herself, "If I can just put a finger on his robe, I'll get well." Jesus turned—caught her at it. Then he reassured her: "Courage, daughter. You took a risk of faith, and now you're well." The woman was well from then on. (Matthew 9:18-22)

Most of us can associate with this woman on occasion - having an intense need that just causes us to see our need as the one that needs the attention at that moment. A need so intense it warrants interrupting the ones we hold close and even Jesus. Jesus is among a huge crowd of people - each pressed in on every side - lots of onlookers and even more who were seeking his touch. Most simply waited for him to notice - in other words, they waited for him to call attention to their need. This woman did something entirely different from the crowd - she took her need to him - undaunted by the pressure of the crowd. Sometimes we wait for others to notice our need - at other times, we are like mom - setting out in determined focus to have that need met. Jesus commends this woman for her faith - stating that she took "a risk of faith" and that was what made her well. Risk is something that we "take", not something that is passive. We see an opportunity and then we respond to that opportunity - we take the risk.

We are presented with hundreds of "risky" opportunities each and every day. Think of the last time you attempted to pull your car out into oncoming traffic, or invested money on the stock market - that was a risk. The last time you bought the "bargain brand" of detergent, or the t-shirts that were on sale for an amazingly cheap price was a risk you were willing to take in order to save a little money. We take "calculated" risks each and every day. It is the "un-calculated" risk of faith that Jesus is commending here - not so much the risks we 'plan' to take. This woman did what no other in that crowd did - she moved beyond her fears of rejection, beyond the norms of the day, and touched the hem of his garment - risk at its riskiest. She seized the opportunity because she believed in the possibility. That is the reality of faith in action - looking beyond the limitations of the present to see the possibilities of the future when that future is in the hand of the Master.

To risk it all means that we expose ourselves to some things that may definitely not be in our total "comfort zone". She was a woman - in those days, to approach a man without being invited to do so was unheard of - risky business in private, much less in public. She was considered unclean by the issue of her blood - to be in the crowd that day was in violation of every "rule" of the orthodox Jew - a risk of 'religious' rule-breaking. She was desperate - moved by her need, not by her rational thought. Maybe the risk comes in not really thinking it through, but in just abandoning ourselves to our faith. Jesus honors this kind of faith - that which is centered in taking the risk of moving beyond what our minds think impossible to what our spirits believe possible. We are encouraged to move into "risky" faith - taking steps of certainty toward Jesus with our need - even when everything in us is uncertain. She pushed through the crowd - there was some resistance to her touching his garment - the resistance of the crowd, the norms, and the rules. What resistance are you facing today? It may be that resistance that is holding you back from risking it all, but when you push past it, what may you find on the other side?

Jesus did not need to acknowledge her - he could have allowed the healing to have occurred - simply by the touch of his garment. Yet, in his love and intense compassion, he stopped, turned to her, and specifically presents her with the assurance that what she desperately believed for was an accomplished fact. Jesus always moves beyond our expectations each time we take the steps of "risky" faith. He is in the business of rewarding this type of committed "exposure". What do you need to touch the Master's hem for today? What is your "issue" - that thing that requires a little more risk in your life than you might have been willing to take before? Take that 'risky thing' to him in the same type of "risky" faith - see what he will do with the commitment of your heart to bring the impossible into the very presence of the possible. Just risking it all!

Risk it!

If you have ever tried to be on both sides of the fence at one time, you know it is not very comfortable straddling the fence!  You really cannot be on one side today, another tomorrow, then back again the next day without it taking some type of toll on either your emotions or your spirit.  Yet, this is exactly what some of us try to do in our relationship with Christ - we want to be as close to the old way of living as possible, but we want all the benefits of serving Christ.  We think it won't matter to walk so close to the edge of compromise, but it doesn't take much for us to stumble and fall right into temptation when we do.

If any of you want to walk My path, you’re going to have to deny yourself. You’ll have to take up your cross every day and follow Me. If you try to avoid danger and risk, then you’ll lose everything. If you let go of your life and risk all for My sake, then your life will be rescued, healed, made whole and full.  (Luke 9:23-24 VOICE)

For most of us, the choice to live so close to the old way of living isn't because we aren't really excited about what it offers, but rather we are "comfortable" with it.  The uncertainty of what might change in our lives when we fully commit to Jesus, choosing to walk as he directs, is kind of scary to us, so we hold as close to the line as possible.  Not too many of us actually thrive on uncertainty. We want the "balance" or "equilibrium" we experience when we can count on something being as it has been.  The thought of something different occurring in our lives just stops us short of taking that first step because we don't like the equilibrium to be rocked!

Jesus didn't come into this world to let the status quo (existing state of our lives) continue.  In fact, he came into this world to rock this world to the core - to upset the imbalance sin creates and return balance to our lives which grace brings!  Jesus was quite clear when he spoke to his disciples those many years ago, and the message is still as clear today - you cannot continually "walk the line" and expect things to change for the better in your life.  You have to draw squarely into the "camp of grace" if you are to experience the true equilibrium of his life.  This requires what he calls "risk" - the very thing we think will bring us hazard or loss, but is assured to bring us joy and blessing.

Looking again at what Jesus said, it is a daily choice.  It often involves us dealing with whatever fear we have of the unknown, stepping out in obedience (not really much faith, but a mustard seed size trust), and then leaving the rest to Jesus.  That is scary because when we leave the outcome to someone else in our lives, we might not get what we expected, but it is entirely truthful to say we might get what we had no idea was right there in front of us! We see the risk as great only because our obedience is small. The more we take steps of obedience, even if they are small ones, the further we move from the fence line.  The further we move into his grace, the more we will have our faith increased and our lives changed in ways we never imagined possible.

The risk of obedience may be greater than any other risk we have taken in life, but far more valuable than any other risk we could take. No, obedience is not always easy.  Yes, it has some fear associated with it because we are going into the territory of the unknown.  In each step we take toward God's will, there is increased risk, but with that risk comes blessings in immeasurable amounts we could not have realized apart from having taken the first step toward obedience in our lives.  Risk it - the first step is totally worth it!  Just sayin!

On the same level time and time again?

Okay, so we made it past Valentine's Day - that "Hallmark" day when "lovers" everywhere exchange flowers, candy, cards, dinner dates, and jewelry.  If you were alone on Valentine's Day, you were among a vast many who just didn't get into the hype of the day, either feeling very relieved you weren't or very depressed you were alone yet again.  I am not very moved by this "holiday" anyway, so it really doesn't bother me - I don't get into all the hype. What I will focus on at this time of the year is how well I am personally doing revealing God's love to those I live with and serve on a daily basis.  After all, there is no "holiday" to focus on these character traits - it is just expected every single day of our lives!  For most of us, this thing called "love" is like one of those "match games" you see online these days where you have to align the right sequence of candies or jewels.  There are little hidden bears or objects behind those colorful squares - waiting to be uncovered - reliant upon your skill and reasoning.  If the hidden is to be uncovered, you must be very, very "calculated" in your moves.  Sometimes I think we approach love in this same way - we take "calculated moves" hoping we will reveal what we are looking for, but making many a move which doesn't prove to uncover what it is we were imagining was underneath.  Yep, love requires some "skill", but it isn't as "calculated" as some may think!

Love is kind and patient, never jealous, boastful, proud, or rude. Love isn’t selfish or quick tempered. It doesn’t keep a record of wrongs that others do. Love rejoices in the truth, but not in evil. Love is always supportive, loyal, hopeful, and trusting. Love never fails! (I Corinthians 13:4-8 CEV)

To truly understand the "skill" of love, we have to turn to the one who exemplified love in the first place - Christ Jesus himself.  To fully comprehend the "skill" we will come to rely upon to "uncover" the hidden in those we associate with, we need to study the "master" of love!  My son observed me trying to complete a particularly "pesky" level in one of these games the other day - a level I had been on for a very long time!  At times, it had been frustrating me.  I just couldn't figure out how to get the last bear freed up.  I would get all but one tiny piece of it exposed - then I'd run out of moves.  Isn't this just how life goes at times?  We think we have everything going so smoothly, all the pieces aligning, then all of a sudden, we realize we used up our last move!  

Love isn't so much about the "calculated risks" we take, but about the person we allow to shine through us as we respond to the moves around us.  I can move all those colorful objects in the game just so, but when other objects fall from above those, I cannot control what will come down the path!  Life is kind of like that - we move one way, but when we don't always control what comes back our way when we do!  This is where we need the "skill" of loving that we see repeatedly in examining the life of Christ.  He was consistently kind and patient - even when ridiculed, spat upon, and nailed to the cross.  He was not jealous of those who had more than he did, lived in better houses than his, or even had a bigger "church" than his!  He didn't get all uppity when he knew the answers to the problems at hand.  He also didn't push his way through or over others to get noticed.  

I don't want us to think love is just something which we just "happen" to get right on occasion - like the falling colorful cubes in our game.  Yep - there are some calculated risks we take - when we go out on the line for something we believe in or someone we care very much about.  Yep - there are some hidden things in relationship which give us challenge after challenge to attempt to uncover.  Yep - there are times when we will get to the point of thinking we will never get past the place where we find ourselves today.  But...we can take a lesson from the one who has taken the risks, is able to uncover the hidden, and who knows the way out of the difficult places.  Just as my son sits beside me on the couch, glancing over my shoulder as I plan my moves in the game with the colorful blocks, Christ comes alongside to show us the way to love each other. How is it my son knows what moves to make?  He has already completed all those levels!  How is it Christ can help us with this thing called "love" - he has already lived it out for us!  Just sayin!

Laying it on the line

Most of us equate putting something on the line as taking a risk with something and we might just lose it when we do.  There is also the risk the thing we put on the line might just experience so much damage we will never get it back in the same condition - like when the parent hands over the car keys the first time to the new young teen driver!  Risk is inherent in laying anything on the line - whether it be something we own, or even when we open up to a friend about our struggle and inner battles.  I don't think we should be focused on the "risk" as much as we should be focused on the results of never having taken the risk in the first place!  If we never give our kids the keys to the car, they will never learn to drive.  If we never let our kids stand on their own two feet, making some poor choices in the process, we will never see them amount to strong adults.  Risk is inherent in all aspects of growth - so hold on - it is going to get a little "risky" if you plan to grow in Jesus!

So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? ... There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture ... None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.  (Romans 8:31-39 MSG)

So, I want us to see this last verse in this passage.  Read the entire chapter - it is a real blessing, but this part of the passage really drives home the point I want us to get this morning.  Nothing - absolutely nothing - can get between us and God's love!  If you need me to define nothing, I will - it means nothing!  In God's way of doing business, he does not abandon his kids!  He doesn't leave us out to dry - never!  Sin is possible, even after we become Christians.  Yep, as a matter of fact, we probably are more sensitive to our sin now, but we still sin!  Not even that sin can separate us from the love of God.  He already made a way to "deal" with that sin, and the rest which are yet to come!  Truth be told, we still sin, but it doesn't bring us any real satisfaction like it used to - in fact, it might even be a little distasteful or bring us a little grief deep inside our spirit.  Why?  Simply because we underwent an "exchange" of character when we invited Christ into our lives.  Now sin is kind of "distasteful" to us - it leaves a bad taste in our mouth.  

This "bad taste" is actually what works within our spirit to drive us back to God for forgiveness and reconciliation - because sin puts a little space between us and God.  God puts his grace on the line each and ever time we come back to him and ask for his forgiveness.  He doesn't hold back because the risk is too big that we might just take it and then throw it all away again down the line.  Nope, he gives it freely because he desires to have us near him and he will do what it takes to see us grow into his grace!  We have a hard time understanding this kind of love - the love willing to risk it all no matter the cost.  We just don't get it because we are incapable of this - we love with conditions!  God's love and his grace are coexistent - they cannot be separated.  Grace is only necessary when we walk away from the place where we experience his love freely.  Grace brings us back to the place of his love - not because we deserve it - but because he desires it!  Yet, God's grace is never to be taken for granted.

There is always going to be a sense of "risk" in obedience.  If we'd learn to see there is equally as much "risk" in disobedience, if not more, we might just not think the "risk" of obedience too great for us!  Remember, "laying something on the line" involves risk.  Risk involves a degree of probability - there is a "degree" of risk which incrementally increases with each "risky" move we make.  For example, wager a dollar on a bet - you might not feel the "risk" too high, so you "enter into" the bet kind of haphazardly.  Wager a grand on a bet and you might just have a little more "concern" or "fear" because the "risk" you are taking is incrementally higher and the bet is more "serious".  Lay it all on the line and the "risk" is beyond our comprehension!  There is one "risk" we take in life which really doesn't expose us to loss - the "risk" of loving Jesus the way he loves us!

I daresay the "risk" of sin is higher than we might want to pay.  The "risk" of obedience is higher than we might be able to contain!  One involves loss - the other ensures gain!  Which will you choose?  Laying it on the line is what God does best.  He doesn't ask us for anything less.  Just sayin!

Invitation to risk

^18-19As he finished saying this, a local official appeared, bowed politely, and said, "My daughter has just now died. If you come and touch her, she will live." Jesus got up and went with him, his disciples following along.

 ^20-22Just then a woman who had hemorrhaged for twelve years slipped in from behind and lightly touched his robe. She was thinking to herself, "If I can just put a finger on his robe, I'll get well." Jesus turned—caught her at it. Then he reassured her: "Courage, daughter. You took a risk of faith, and now you're well." The woman was well from then on.

(Matthew 9:18-22)

Jesus was on his way to accomplish one healing (that of the dead daughter) when a totally different use of his healing power was called upon (the healing of the woman with the issue of blood).  It is the woman that I wish to focus on this morning.  Not specifically her need, but her faith.

Jesus is amongst a crowd - pressed in on every side by onlookers and those seeking his touch.  Most simply waited for him to notice - in other words, they waited for him to call attention to their need.  This woman did something entirely different from the crowd - she took her need to him - undaunted by the pressure of the crowd.

Jesus commends this woman for her faith - stating that she took "a risk of faith" and that was what made her well.  Risk is something that we "take", not something that is passive.  We see an opportunity and then we respond to that opportunity - we take the risk.  

We are presented with hundreds of "risky" opportunities each and every day.  Think of the last time you attempted to pull your car out into oncoming traffic - that was a risk.  The last time you bought the "bargain brand" of a product at the store was a risk you were willing to take in order to save a little money.  We take "calculated" risks each and every day.  It is the "un-calculated" risk of faith that Jesus is commending here.

This woman did what no other in that crowd did - she moved beyond her fears of rejection, beyond the norms of the day, and touched the hem of his garment.  She seized the opportunity because she believed in the possibility.  That is the reality of faith in action - looking beyond the limitations of the present to see the possibilities of the future when it is in the hand of the Master.

To risk it all means that we expose ourselves to some things that may not be in our "comfort zone".  She was a woman - in those days, to approach a man without being welcomed to do so was unheard of.  She was considered unclean by the issue of her blood - to be in the crowd that day was in violation of every "rule" of the orthodox Jew.  She was desperate - moved by her need, not by her rational thought.

Jesus honors this kind of faith - that which is centered in taking the risk of moving beyond what our minds think impossible to what our spirits believe possible.  The invitation today is to move into "risky" faith - taking steps of certainty toward Jesus with our need.  She pushed through the crowd - there was some resistance to her touching his garment.  What resistance are you facing today?  

Jesus did not need to acknowledge her - he could have allowed the healing to have occurred - simply by the touch of his garment.  Yet, in his love for her, he stopped, turned to her, and specifically presents her with the assurance that what she desperately believed for was an accomplished fact.  Jesus moves beyond our expectations each time we take the steps of "risky" faith.  He is in the business of rewarding this type of committed "exposure".  

What to you need to touch the Master for today?  What is your "issue"?  Take it to him in the same type of "risky" faith - see what he will do with the commitment of your heart to bring the impossible into the very presence of the possible.