What are you pursuing? Is it security, safety, control, or is it wildness, adventure, and freedom?
My heart is stirred this morning after going through a week worrying about my security and protecting what I have built. I am convicted, realizing how much attention and energy I give to control my financial stability, reputation, and what others think of me. I want to protect what I have and be liked by others, so I attempt to control outcomes. But therein lies the problem.
When you boil it down, what do you control? Think about it. What is under your control?
I learned 11 years ago, shortly after my daughter was born that I can not control my kids. It never ends well when I try to control my wife. My customers and colleagues do things that I would rather them not. And I can’t for the life of me get my dog to poop in the designated poop area!
My need to control comes from a place of fear.
Fear drives us to insulate and shelter ourselves from risk, and ultimately your adventure to live.
Risk, by definition, is exposure to danger.
But who wants that?
I argue your heart does! Your masculine heart was made for adventure, for risk! You were not made to cocoon yourselves in comfort, safety and predictability. You are made for more!
That is what our 90 Days together is all about. To name our fears uncovers the wounds that caused them, and courageously step into a life of freedom God created for you.
“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” – Gil Bailie
Your false self wants you to stay safe, secure, protected from any danger or risk. Do you know anyone who lives a remotely interesting life by playing it safe, never taking risks? What movies get your heart going? Is the story all about risk aversion, or is it a story riddled with risk and the reward of overcoming?
I’ve always been fearful of boredom. Boredom is the mindless, passive time where I distract myself from presence and calling.
I spiral into sin when I am bored. I scroll through social media, comparing my life to the made-up lives online, and get introspective on what I “should” be doing. The longer I am bored, the more risk-averse I become. I find things that comfort me, that temporarily satiate my deeper longing. Soon I am in a current that builds speed towards destruction, and we must swim for shore if we want to survive. The deeper we sink into comfort, the harder it is to get out.
What is the antidote to boredom?
Adventure! Risk! It’s doing something out of your comfort zone, something that you can’t control.
This is why I love walking with Jesus.
He invites me into crazy things. He challenges me to walk down scary paths. Path’s that I would never take alone that usually make no sense. But every time I say yes to his invitation, it always leads to something beautiful, exciting, and new! He has never lead me astray, and there is no greater adventure than an intimate relationship with Him.
When I try to control outcomes or people, I know I have veered off his path.
When I release control and stay obedient to the crazy thing he asks, everything mysteriously (eventually) falls in place.
What is one area in your life where you are playing it safe? What are you trying to control?
Ask Jesus where he wants you to risk. Where does he want you to “expose yourself to danger?”
The paradox of the Kingdom of God is that the dangerous place God invites you into, is in fact, the safest place you can be.
Here’s to Wildness, Adventure, and Freedom!