Risks

Life Today!

Heroes

“For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” Esther 4:14 NIV

I have been reading lately about the heroes of the Bible.  Interestingly, as I read about Esther, David, Moses, Sampson, or any of those heroes, I see that God requires us or at least encourages us to take risks.  We have the advantage of reading the stories of these heroes after the stories have been lived and completed, AFTER David slayed Goliath, AFTER Esther went before the king, AFTER Moses went before Pharaoh.

But imagine the courage David needed to face Goliath taking with him nothing but a slingshot and a few smooth stones.  Surely, he must have felt fear, but he went anyway.  That was a huge risk, indeed about as big a risk as a person can take.  And imagine the fear Esther had to overcome to go before a king who literally held her life in his hands.

I tend to read a story like that and believe it was easier than it was because God was with David. God was with Esther.  But then I measure that against my own life.  God is with me as well.  Should I not take risks more often, especially when God leads me to do so?  What about my children? What am I telling them about taking risks and trusting God?  What are you telling your children?

Lead by example

Perhaps God will not call your son or your daughter to go before a king or slay Goliath, but He may call him or her to volunteer at a camp for special needs kids.  He may call them to take a job that they are not sure they can do.  He may call your son or your daughter to go speak to an audience when they are nervous about doing so, whether that audience is one person and they are sharing the gospel or the audience is one thousand and they are speaking to gain their support or their favor.  Most assuredly, though, God will call your son or your daughter to stretch themselves and take risks.

I don’t know and you don’t know what those risks will be.  Just make up your mind now that you will encourage your children to take them when God leads them to do so.  Make sure they cover themselves in prayer, seek God’s will, and seek Godly counsel.  But make sure they remember that God calls us to live life fully or, as the scripture says, “abundantly.”  There is a quote partially attributed to and inspired by Henry David Thoreau that reads, “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and die with their songs still in them.”  Encourage your children to live life fully and take some risks. Encourage them to live life to the fullest and sing their song.

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Abiding Fathers is a Biblical fatherhood discipleship ministry committed to helping men be the dad…God wants them to be. It’s a movement of God that is “International-Relational-Generational”. Join with us. We need you!


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