BY GREG CRUM
“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Hebrews 11:6
God rewards the seekers, those that boldly move forward toward Him. Growing up in church there were times when I felt that I was walking around on eggshells when it came to my relationship with God like I was one wrong move from the other end of a lightning bolt. Have you ever felt the same? The enemy loves to make us feel this way. Additionally, religion can fill our minds so full of dos and don’ts that we can become paralyzed at the thought of messing up and displeasing our Father. This is a recipe for going nowhere in God, or worse yet, backsliding from the position we already hold.
Now, none of us should want to mess up or live before God recklessly, but we shouldn’t live in fear of failure either. Fear of failure will keep us from stepping out in faith, and that’s the only way to truly please God and receive His best for us in this life.
The testimony of Scripture is clear, “playing it safe” and living by faith aren’t very compatible! If we are going to conquer giants and seize new land for the Lord in this last day, we have to have a higher risk tolerance when it comes to our service to God.
Think about the testimonies of those that have gone before us, those things written in the Bible for our instruction. The individuals mentioned in the pages of the Word of God that were most used of the Lord stepped out on the water (sometimes literally), and that means they had to put themselves at risk of sinking.
Remember Moses, he stood up for his fellow Hebrews (good) and messed up by killing a man in defense of one of them (not good), but the Lord forgave his missteps and used him like no other man in his generation.
What about Peter? He’s the one that literally stepped out and walked on water with the Lord. What an amazing display of faith in Jesus! We know the rest of the story, though. He got his eyes off Jesus and onto the elements around him and began to sink.
Peter’s stepping out didn’t stop there.
Under inspiration of the Holy Spirit he stepped out and proclaimed that Jesus was the Messiah, only moments later to put his foot in his mouth and to be rebuked by the Lord for his attempt to dissuade Jesus from his rendezvous with the cross.
Finally, in a trifecta of bold moves turned bad, hours before the death of our Lord, Peter declared that he would stand with Jesus or die. Well…yeah, he didn’t. Epic failures? Sure, but you know what? Jesus forgave him for each of these faith failures, and Peter was used by the Lord to be the very first preacher of the New Testament as he preached Christ crucified and risen to Jews and Gentiles alike!
Moral of these real-life incidents? God doesn’t give up on us when we mess up! He can use those that mess up; it’s not a hard thing for Him to do. In fact it seems that it’s much harder for Him to use those that never step out as opposed to those that do and fail.
Brothers and sisters, it seems that the world as we know it is rapidly coming to an end. If we want to be used of God in these last days, we are going to have to take some risks for the Lord. We must be bold enough to step out for the Lord, knowing that even if we fail, He loves us enough to forgive us and get us back on our feet again. Some never step out because they don’t want to “miss it.” Here’s the thing, though: We will never be used of God in greater ways unless we are willing to “miss it.”
Let’s move into greater things for the Lord by risking failure. God is ready and able to catch the honest heart, even if we fall.
(Greg Crum is pastor of Calvary Temple Church in Lovely.)