Risk and courage

Risk and courage are the hallmarks of these perilous times that we live in today, and for those that choose to play it safe…. They will lose their life anyway. Besides lives absent of risk are merely existences, and not the real lavish experience that God desired for us in this brief moment of our eternal journey. We are handed down paradigms about God, Faith, and Country that paints tainted pictures that conventional wisdom tells us would be blasphemous for us to question, but God clearly invites us into that dialogue with Him, and that is the very purpose of sending His Holy Spirit. We have been so ensnared by the battle of civil religion and morality that we have lost sight of the most valuable and profitable command.

Mark 12: 29-31

The first is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God, the Lord is one: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. The second is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

Before Jesus Christ found me, Risk was a word that I lived by every moment of every day by, and I see now that I have let the pendulum swing too far to the other side. The best and most Godly people and gifts that Jesus gives us in this world are going to be risky, and I see that clearly now. I wish I could turn back the hands of time, but perhaps this is just about God turning it forward? We dream, we risk, we hope, and we risk, we walk the path that God has set before us, and we risk everything, but the gain is the joy of our Father. Love well!

I have seen love in the most unlikely of places in the last few months and in circumstances that standard church paradigms would declare far too risky to approach, but God shows up in places that astound and amaze. I feel the weight of judgment, fear, and condemnation being leveled by the true essence of love, and peace is evident when I get away from the law of my critical mind, and trust that the spirit of God resides in the circulation of the blood from my heart to my head.

Risk with the right motivations and Love without Pharisaical boundaries! Challenge convention wisdom, examine the motives behind man-made tradition, and ask bigger questions that test the establishment. Jesus was never behind any political party, movement or religious denomination. The Kingdom of God is a “Power Under / Love First” kingdom and every kingdom of the world is a “Power Over / Eye for Eye” kingdom, so our power structures will never line up with His. I will seek to know the depths of the Love of God and let every declaration or judgment that I make this year be framed through the lenses of that love and serve as He served. I will Risk everything to gain Him, and have the courage to stand!

Jay