7 Dimensions of Wellness

7 Dimensions of Wellness
7 Dimensions of Wellness

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Positive Thought For the Week

Is it Faith or is it Safe?

I have a confession to make. I am by nature a very cautious person. As a child I am the one who would take the least amount of risk and I tried my best to do the right thing. In a lot of ways, I’m still that girl. Now some one might be saying what’s wrong with that? The answer would be nothing as long as your definition of safe is not greater than your faith in God. One of the foundation principles of my belief is that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. The irony of that is in order to truly apply this principle to my life I have to constantly battle against my nature. Because there is nothing in the natural that is safe about hoping and believing in something you can not see, or that you have no evidence it will work.

When I look back over some of the choices I have made in say the last three – five years, I can see how some of them have been based not on my faith in what God can do but how safe those decisions were for me. How do you know when you are operating out of safe verse faith? If your answer to any of these questions more often than not are yes then may be you have a safe walk verses a faith walk.
- When you are willing to help only to degree it doesn’t cause you any emotional discomfort and will not alter the cocoon you are living in.
- When you have calculated the risk and you have decided that the degree you are willing to help is limited to what you can define as safe through your natural eye.
- When you won’t seek God for further instruction for fear he will ask more of you then you are comfortable with giving.
- When you have done just enough to keep up the appearance of being a person of faith to the world but in your heart you knew you were not doing enough to be a person who truly walks out his or her faith.

Every one’s safe place is different. For me safe has become I will help you as long as I don’t have to take any emotional risk. You see I have been hurt by a couple of folks in the past and although you can not see the scars on the outside there are still some places I believe that are very tender on the inside. To be honest, for all I know those once tender place may have healed, but I will not let any one close enough to touch those places to find out.

This has been a very interesting year for me. Through Christ I have come to this realization I have been loved by more people than I have been hurt when I walk in faith. When I have operated in faith rather than playing it safe in the natural I have had more successes than I have failures. Through faith rather than safe I have been blessed in ways I could not comprehend with my natural eye. That my definition of safe in the natural did not always safe guard me from emotional challenges, disappointments or sadness. I confess I still have some hurdles but at least now I can see by faith the finish line and it’s a lot closer than what it use to be.

Have a blessed.
YMA

No comments: