With Reckless Abandon
By: Kristen L. McNulty
Reprint rights available on request. Email the author at kristenmcnulty@hotmail.com.
For many years now I’ve been blessed to have an above ground swimming pool in my backyard. Over the years as I’ve hosted many pool parties and swims with friends and family, I can say that there are certainly more than one style of getting in the water.
There’s some who gasp when their toes touch the unheated water that feels so much colder than the air some days. Others, like me many times, cling to the ladder and slowly lower themselves down into the water inch by inch with a pained look on their faces. Then there are those who move down the ladder quickly but stay standing on their tiptoes at waist deep, not wanting to go any further in until quite some time has passed. And then there’s my five year old nephew, Josh. Josh confidentially climbs up the dry side of the ladder, stops at the platform at the top, pushes his goggles down over his eyes and then launches himself with reckless abandon into a belly flop kind of dive into the pool with a huge grin on his face.
Jumping In With Reckless Abandon
Needless to say, I want to be more like Josh. There is something amazing that takes place in the lives of those who jump in with reckless abandon and I’m not just talking about swimming here.
So often you and I as believers are called by God to do something crazy and big for the Kingdom. Something that requires us to launch in head first in faith, knowing that we are going to be in over our heads. How often is it that we stand back and dip our toes in to test the waters? Or start to obey, only to back out when the going gets tough?
Trying to find an excuse not to do something is easy, following our calling is not. But how can we stay out of the water when we know and when God has shown us over and over, that where God calls us He isn’t going to abandon us?
"But now, O Jacob, listen to the LORD who created you. O Israel, the one who formed you says, 'Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.'" Isaiah 43:1-2 NLT
A Step Of Faith, Not A Step Of Certainty
We as Christians don't need to need to analyze the risks and try to come up with a game plan. If we wait until we know exactly what's going to happen, we're never going to take a step of faith. It's called a step of faith after all, not a step of certainty. The amazing thing is though, we don't need to know what will happen when we know Who goes with us! The same God who promises to be with us isn’t going to abandon us when we take that step of faith with reckless abandon. No, He’s going there with us and is going to be there every step of the way. Where God calls us, He goes with us, every single step.
While diving in with reckless abandon might sound like an unsafe place to venture to, what is safety really? If being safe means I waste my entire life, never making a move unless I first know what waits for me on the other side, then safety is more like a prison and less like a promise of a better life. The heroes of the faith would have never fulfilled their God-given missions had they been more consumed with their comfort and safety than they were about where God was calling them. Noah would have never built the ark. Moses would have never left Egypt. The people of Israel would have never made their seven time trek around Jericho. I could go on and on. Faith calls us to put aside calculating the outcome and instead trust God to carry you through when He says “go”. As the Apostle Paul taught us, "we walk by faith, not by sight." (2 Cor. 5:7)
Trusting Who Goes With Us
I don’t know about you, but when God calls me to do something, I don’t want to just dip my toe in and then back out with a lame excuse when it looks like the next steps could make my life uncomfortable. No, I want to jump in with reckless abandon, not knowing what I’m going to find there, but trusting who goes with me.
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