And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)
My friend Leslie is afraid of clowns. My children think this is funny. They want to send her pictures of scary clowns. They take after their father. Other people’s fears can seem funny to us. But our own fears? Not so much.
Lately, Jesus has been challenging my fears. I have a lot of them. A long list. Spiders, cicadas, or any other insect landing on me. Heights. Airplane turbulence. Saying the wrong thing in a conversation. Making a fool of myself. Being a failure. Being attacked in a dark parking lot (I will use my keys as weapons). Losing the people that I love. Being attacked by a large animal (I dreamed as a kid that I was eaten by a bear…and a giant crab). Not being able to write anymore. Going either bald or blind (I’m not kidding). Persecution. Letting down my friends and family. Missing out on God’s will.
I could go on…but let’s not. The thing is that when we follow Jesus, He calls us to a life of doing things that are impossible without Him. He calls us to a life of jumping out of boats and believing that He will do the rest. It’s called faith.
The truth is that when I empty my life of faith, I empty it of possibility. When I let fear win…well, fear wins. And who wants that? When we decide to follow Jesus, we can move past our fears and trust that He, in His great mercy and creativity, will lead us on a journey that is more than we could ever hope for or imagine.
Faith Step: Take a faith walk with a friend. Close your eyes and follow the sound of their voice. Know that just as your friend makes sure that you are safe, so does Jesus when you follow the sound of His voice.
