Today’s Purpose Driven Life Devotional

Friday, December 10, 2010

Obeying God Requires You Take a Risk by Tom Holladay

After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead." Matthew 2:19-20 (NIV) Today's devotional is by Tom Holladay, teaching pastor at Saddleback Church. "We may want a life of no fears in this world but that only happens in heaven." As uncomfortable as it was for Joseph to move his family to Egypt, imagine how scary it would be for him to obey God's command to come back to Israel. It was like going back into the jaws of the lion. He was going to take Mary and Jesus back to where his son's life had been in danger. But because Joseph trusted God and what he was saying, Joseph took the risk and went there because he knew that was the right place to be. The Bible says, "Even when I am afraid, I keep trusting you" (Psalm 56:3 CEV). Notice this verse says, "when I am afraid" not "if I am afraid." We may want a life of no fears in this world but that only happens in heaven. In this life, we're all going to face fears of one kind or another. We have some big fears and some little fears. We fear the future, we fear what's going to happen with our jobs, what's going to happen with our family; and we fear little things like whether we said the right thing to someone, whether that presentation went well, even fear of making a phone call. In all of these situations, you have a choice to make. Are you going to let the fear control you or are you going to take a risk of faith because you know you have a God who loves you? That risk of faith could mean going someplace you've never been before or forgiving someone you thought you couldn't forgive. It could mean leaving your job. A risk of faith could also be praying about something or deciding to trust God with a situation or a relationship you've held tight in your hand. What Christ-like risk is God telling you to take in faith?