Published: Wednesday, Sep. 09, 2009 / Updated: Wednesday, Sep. 09, 2009 02:11 PM
Take a risk, listen to God
Despite all of the advantages we enjoy today with technology, entertainment, opportunities for volunteer work, travel, etc., I hear many complain of being bored.
“There's nothing to do.”
I'm sure you've heard it also. My mother used to tell me that only boring people can be bored. Jesus challenges us in the Word of God to launch out into life and tackle it, enjoy it and receive the fruit of your labor. In Matthew 7 he said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”
What is God asking you to do? That's the standard by which you'll finally be judged. Some time ago I read these powerful words:
“To laugh is to risk appearing a fool. To weep is to risk appearing sentimental. To reach out to another is to risk involvement. To expose your feelings is to risk rejection. To place your dreams before the crowd is to risk ridicule. To love is to risk not being loved in return. To go forward in the face of overwhelming odds is to risk failure. But risks must be taken, because the greatest risk of all is to risk nothing. The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing, and is nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he cannot learn, he cannot feel, he cannot change, he cannot grow and he cannot love. Chained by his certainty, he is a slave. Only the person who risks is truly free.”
Don't ask the Lord to lead you if you're not willing to move your feet. The writer of Proverbs has much to say about idleness.
Proverbs 14:23: “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.”
Proverbs 23:21: “Drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.”
What are you asking God for today? What is it that you are seeking? Are you knocking on heaven's door for something? Or, have you been content to just sit with no goals, no spiritual growth and nothing to show at the end of the day?
Ask God for the clarity to hear his voice, the wisdom to understand what he is saying to you today and the courage to rise up and do it!
Gil Kinney is pastor of Real Life Assembly Church in Fort Mill.
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