Recently I attended a Christine Caine conference in California where she spoke about living "dangerously." I was encouraged by this woman who once very ordinary, now speaks before thousands of people and is the founder of the A21 Campaign, an organization that fights human trafficking.
When I think of living dangerously, I am reminded of the Biblical story of Esther. The story of Esther (a true story) is about an evil man named Haman who is plotting to massacre God's people. Esther is used by God to save her people and leads the nation to freedom. Esther was an ordinary, orphaned Jewish woman, raised by her cousin Mordecai, who ends up becoming a queen. Esther proves to us that God opens destiny to any person willing to follow Him. A famous line in this story is Mordecai's plea to her, "Who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" Esther's response is one of someone willing to live dangerously. "And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!"
What we need to understand is that life is risky and safety is a myth. Jesus did not die a death of persecution for us so that we can be "nice" and do nothing with our lives. We need to take risks and stop living mediocre lives. We can believe that God has great things in store for us. Why? Because God is not small, he is a great big God. We try to shrink God down through religion, culture, and traditions. He is much bigger than that.
This past year God has opened my eyes to new things such as global social issues. God has purposely created us for a purpose. Psalm 39:11 says our lives are as a vapor. Time is short. It's time to bring God out of the church and our Christian subculture. This year we can make a difference whether it be in our families, in our community, or globally. Opportunities await. It's time to live dangerously!
"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Years Day." - Edith Lovejoy Pierce
Happy New Year!
