A DUAL RISK

“Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.”  (John 1:12 NIV)

Every commitment is a sort of gamble. But for the person experiencing the acute sense of risk that comes at the moment of making a decisive commitment, there is a dual risk: Not only the risk of exercising faith and making a commitment, but the equally acute risk of NOT exercising faith and making a commitment. It is what Sheldon Vanauken, in his book “A Severe Mercy” describes so well as the “gap behind” -- the sense that one cannot draw back from the risk that is to be taken, except at even greater risk.

Vanauken wrote, “The position was not, as I had been comfortably thinking all these months, merely a question of whether I was to accept the Messiah or not. It was a question of whether I was to accept Him -- or reject. My God! There was a gap behind me, too. Perhaps the leap to acceptance was a horrifying gamble -- but what of the leap to rejection?” 

-- Maxine Hancock in “Re-evaluating Your Commitments: How to Strengthen the Permanent and Reassess the Temporary”

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A LEAP OF FAITH

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."  (Hebrews 11:1 ESV)

The African impala is well-known for its remarkable leaping ability. It can jump ten feet high and thirty feet long. One might think zookeepers would have a tough time keeping impalas in their enclosures, but it’s actually quite simple. A three-foot high wall will do the trick. Here’s why: an impala will not jump if it cannot see where it will land.

We have the same problem, don’t we? We want money-back guarantees before we take a step of obedience, but it eliminates faith from the equation. Sometimes we need to take a flying leap of faith.

We need to step into the conflict without knowing if we can resolve it. We need to share our faith without knowing how our friends will react to it. We need to pray for a miracle without knowing how God will answer. We need to put ourselves in a situation that activates a spiritual gift we’ve never exercised before. And we need to go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention. 

-- Mark Batterson in “All In: You Are One Decision Away from a Totally Different Life”

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