Take a faith-based risk (1) - All The Word for Today Daily Devotionals for 2024

‘The Kingdom of Heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.’ Matthew 11:12 ESV

Peter gets unfairly criticised. He is the disciple who denied Christ three times, but he is the only one who got close enough to Jesus to get caught. He is the disciple who impulsively cut off Malchus’s ear when the lynch mob came to arrest Jesus, but he is the only one who came to Jesus’ defence. He is the disciple who sank in the Sea of Galilee, but he is the only disciple who walked on water. It’s so easy to criticise people from the comfortable confines of the boat.

Basically, there are two kinds of people: creators and criticisers—those who get out of the boat and walk on water and those who sit in the boat and criticise the water walkers. When everything is said and done, our greatest regrets will be the God-ordained risks we didn’t take. German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said, ‘Hell begins the day that God grants you the vision to see all that you could have done, should have done, and would have done, but did not do’. Jesus said, ‘From the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of Heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force’ (Matthew 11:12 ESV). What do you believe God is leading you to do? What is the persistent prompting of the Holy Spirit urging you to do? Do it. Failing to take a faith-based risk is like permanently misplacing a piece from the jigsaw puzzle of your life. It leaves a disappointing hole. When we reach the end of our lives, our biggest regrets will be those missing pieces. So today, go ahead and take a faith-based risk.

SoulFood: Josh 1-4 Luke 19:1-10 Ps 84 Pro 22:24-26