This afternoon I got a call from a friend who needed some advice. Unfortunately, I gave him a cowardly answer. I'm sorry for that. I was afraid of giving good advice because a lot was riding on what I told him. There are times in our lives when we're faced with incredibly tough choices. And as God calls us to step out in faith, those choices become even harder. Sometimes God calls us to do something that flies in the face of common sense. At other times, and I think this is the hardest thing of all, God calls us to break the cycle of lies and half-truths we've grown up with. For me, it has to do with work. My dad is a hard worker. He's always worked, never takes a sick day, never shirks a task. Let me correct myself, that's my stepfather. My biological father was described to me by mother as a lazy man, who would often call in sick, lose his jobs, and rely on my mother to support the family. One of my biggest fears in life was that I would end up just like my biological dad. So I vowed never to let that happen, never to rely on my wife to support us. And now God is calling me to step out in faith, to chase my dreams, only, my wife is going to have to work. In fact, she'll probably be the main source of income for our family for a while. That feels like a knife in my guts, twisting and turning, revealing the real me who is lazy and inept and just like my biological dad.
I'm not really like my biological father, but sometimes it's easy to believe the worst about yourself. Unfortunately, believing lies about who we are is very unhealthy. It gets us all tied up and crippled with self doubt. We can't do the courageous things, we can't live in freedom, in abundant life, if we're bound up in lies and false agreements. We've got to hang on to truth. Listen to Hebrews 12:12-13 in the Amplified Bible:
12So then, brace up and reinvigorate and set right your slackened and weakened and drooping hands and strengthen your feeble and palsied and tottering knees, 13And cut through and make firm and plain and smooth, straight paths for your feet [yes, make them safe and upright and happy paths that go in the right direction], so that the lame and halting [limbs] may not be put out of joint, but rather may be cured.
It's time we took a new grip on Jesus. He said he was "the truth" and that he came to give us life, to set the captives free, give sight to the blind, freedom to the oppressed. We need to let go of the lies we hang on to and grab hold of Jesus. The bible isn't calling for a renewed commitment to obedience, but a renewed commitment to our intimate and loving Savior.
It's time we faced the things that make us weak in the knees, the things that really scare us and shine the light of faith on those big, towering, overwhelming fears. The only way to strength shaking knees is to remove the fear and rest in God That doesn't mean that we pretend the scary circumstances in our lives aren't real, but we learn to trust in God's provision for us; his power and work in our lives to meet our needs and carry us through the difficulties we face.
Finally, we need to get a plan. I used to think that getting a plan was in conflict with stepping out in faith. But when God calls us to step out and trust him, we need to mark out a straight path of obedience. If calls you to do something, you don't have to figure out how to make it happen, but you may need to figure out what it is going to take for you to obey God. You may have to plot the course to get more faith and less fear. You may have to make plans to strengthen your grip on God and let go of some of the things that you've been hanging onto that weigh you down and keep you tied up.
When we do these things, we get strong. When we do these things the people that follow us get strong. When we do these things, we begin to experience life as God intended: full, abundant, overflowing life!
