Reckless Endangerment to Reckless Abandon
Now imagine yourself in a car. You are driving and God is in the passenger seat. It’s comfortable and you are at ease, because you know where you’re going and you are in control. This is how most of us go about our daily lives. We believe that God is along for the ride, that as long as He is a part of our life, then everything is going to be alright. In fact, it’s when we sit in the passenger seat and let God take the wheel that we truly surrender ourselves over to Him.
“Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done.” ~ Luke 22:42
He knows us and he knows exactly what we need. He might take the long way so we can see new sights. We must hand over the keys to God. We must surrender ourselves completely to Him and accept his will over our own. That doesn’t mean that you can become a backseat driver, telling Him to turn right at the next light.
Fear of Failure
There is always fear associated with the idea of stepping out of our comfort zone. But it’s when we take that risk that we open ourselves up for growth. I think to myself, what if I never would have had the courage to ask my girlfriend to marry me? Obviously, I would not be happily married to a wonderful woman who challenges me and helps me to see myself in a new light. So I am thankful that I stepped out on a ledge and took the risk. She could’ve said no and that was a risk I was willing to take.
How many times did Jesus tell his disciples, “do not be afraid?” We will try, we will fail, we will try again. There are times when we will be tempted to do things that will cause us to move backwards in our faith journey. We are sinners en route to sainthood. Hopefully we spend more time moving forward towards sainthood, than backwards to sin.