Guarantee

Risk your life and get more than you ever dreamed of.” Luke 19:26 (MSG)

Risk is the substance of our faith because it requires us to take Step 1 before we see Step 2.

Risk means we’re compelled to action, even when there seems to be no guarantee of what will be on the other side of our choice of faith.
But it’s risks, large and small, that God uses to stretch us from living by sight into living by faith.

The irony is, as we concentrate on the risks associated with faith, we fail to understand we’re taking a greater risk by remaining independent of God.
If we believe what we say we believe, then, regardless of what we see on the other side of faithful risk, the reality is God is there.

What seems to be a no-guarantee situation actually comes with the greatest guarantee of all—a God-guarantee—that he’s working it all out (Romans 8:28; Jeremiah 29:11).

With a God-guarantee, you can enter into the risky obedience of attempting things that are impossible unless God gives you his strength to do them.

With a God-guarantee, you can enter into the risky obedience of loving other believers so deeply and so richly that you prove to the world you are a Jesus-one bearing God’s fathomless love.

With a God-guarantee, you can enter into the risky obedience of loving your unlovable neighbors just as you love the unlovable you.

With a God-guarantee, you can enter into the risky obedience of changing your priorities to match God’s priorities, sacrificing, in faith, what you cannot keep for the things that can never be taken away.

With a God-guarantee, you can enter into the risky obedience of going to make disciples of all peoples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them the risky obedience of following what Jesus commands (Matthew 28:19–20 NIV).