“Take that risk” – that’s a phrase we hear all the time. But this got me thinking as Christians we are meant to walk in faith, and not take risks.
A risk can be described as “uncertainty about the effects of an act with respect to something that humans value” (Society for Risk Analysis). Whereas according to Hebrews 11, faith is “confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see”.
And so, unlike a risk where I am led by my own feelings, emotions, thoughts – faith is relying on God’s words, His promises and as the Bible says in 2nd Corinthians His promises are Yes and Amen.
Pastor Tony Evans describes faith is “acting like it is so, even if it is not so, so that it might be so, simply because God said so”. When listening to the Crazy Faith Series led by Pastor Mike Todd and reading his book as well, he explains how faith is a muscle. You can have faith in God for big stuff, because of the “small” stuff that He has done repeatedly. So, the more we deepen our relationship with God, the more we rely on Him, the more we can walk in faith i.e., “take those risks” because then we have a record that we can look back at and refer to how it ended last time.
Walking in faith proves that we depend on God and trust Him enough, taking risks means we think the odds will not work against you – rather than will work for you. So, when you are about to take a risk, you follow a man-made formula or listen to advise from people on what you need to do to ensure everything works in your favor. But when you decide to walk in faith all you need is to understand what Hebrews 11 says.
Personally, there are times walking in faith comes automatically but sometimes I want to walk in faith knowing what the outcome is – but that isn’t faith, right? And that’s why I think it’s important to listen to what God is saying. Because to walk in faith, God must be in it. When I think about the verse “faith as small a mustard seed” – it’s quite intentional how that’s all God requires. He knows our human nature and how much we need to be able to walk in the direction He needs us to walk in, so all He requires of us is “faith as small as a mustard seed” (Matthew 17:20).
So, will you continue taking risks or start walking by faith?
