Playing It Safe Might Be Your Biggest Risk

Beloved, We are at midweek and midmonth on this Wednesday, January 13th in the year of our Lord, 2021. On Sunday, we experienced our first fully virtual worship service since we offered the option of in-person worship beginning last July. It was different for me and for many of you; but, God is still blessing us in all that we do. We are being safe. Being safe in our health, wealth and relationships is prudent. Doing the right thing is the right thing to do. I prayed about our situation as a church family in the context of this pandemic that is still not under control, consulted with church leadership, considered the known and unknown instances of COVID-19 swirling around us and God led me to decide to temporarily halt in-person worship. It was hard to do; but, it was the right thing to do. And, do understand, I could have just said, "Let us plow ahead and keep doing what we have been doing. Just stay the course." It would have seemed risky to some; but, in my mind, and I do emphasize "my mind", it would have seemed a safe thing to do because it had become our normal. But, instead of doing what I thought was safe, I chose to let God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, guide me. I have gotten some comments affirming the wisdom of that decision, of the decision that God led me to. Beloved, I have gotten used to listening to God in guiding my life; so, when an idea or notion comes up that will disrupt my norm or others' norm, I am not afraid of it, if I believe that is what God would have me to do. I have learned that my life is not my life to choose to live as I want to live it. When I gave my life to God through Jesus Christ as guided by the Holy Spirit, I allowed God to redeem me through the salvation of Jesus the Christ and have fought myself to submit to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And, therefore, playing it safe according to the world's vantage point is something I just find hard to do. In living the life of being a Christian, a Christ follower, you have spiritual leadership DNA inside of you. You have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of you. And, that spiritual leadership DNA is there to lead you and others who you come into contact with. As a result, playing it safe from the world's perspective is not something you should seek to do. Playing it safe from God's perspective is what you should be after. And, God's safety often conflicts with the world's safety. Jesus worked miracles when He roamed the earth. He said His followers would do greater miracles than He did. For some people, they can spell the word miracle but they do not actually expect for them to occur in their lives or the lives of others; therefore, they play it safe. They depend on odds, probability and chance in living their lives. As a result, they lose a part of themselves to the world by playing it safe. Jesus offered an alternative in Luke 9:22-24, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it." Beloved, we sing, "I have decided to follow Jesus." It is a risk to doing so. You will have to forfeit any ideas or notions that you are in control of your fate and destiny. In deciding to follow Jesus, you have decided to do what your Savior and LORD asks you to do and leave the consequences up to Him. Are you following Jesus or are you playing it safe? If you think that you are playing it safe by conforming to the world, then you, as a Christian, are taking the biggest risk and possibly making the biggest mistake of your life, temporal and eternal. Your best, most adventurous, most amazing and wonderful life will be found in taking the risk of following Jesus and finding that His way is always the best way, ultimately the safest way. You just have to dare to live above "See" level and see your life the way that God sees your life. And, when you do so, you will find that no matter the circumstances, you are safest when you know that you are in the will of God. So, stop playing it safe in the world and risking your relationship with God. Instead, risk all for God and trust in His safety. Looking forward to connecting with you at Noonday Prayer and sharing in hearing our radio message on The Light radio station at 3pm. Take the risk and connect with us. God has something for you. Be blessed, Rev. Cain