Playing It Safe

You may have heard the phrase “err on the side of caution”.  This phrase basically sums up a philosophy which suggests that we should “act in the least risky manner in a situation in which we are uncertain about the result.”  In a nutshell, it means, “Better safe than sorry.”  While there certainly is some safety in embracing this concept, embracing it in every area of life will safely lead to one thing for sure: a boring life.  I read it somewhere once that situational uncertainty goes by another name- ADVENTURE.  I would suggest to everyone reading this that to act in the least risky manner in a situation in which we are uncertain of the outcome requires little to no faith.  In my life, faith seems to be the activator of adventure.  While many will play it safe and hope for God to come through, I tend to rush on in where angels fear to tread.  While I do my best to pray about my decisions and look for the Lord’s direction in my life, I have noted over the years that His direction seems to be more and more vague in many of the decisions that I have to make.  I used to interpret that as a sign that God was wanting me to hold back and play it safe- that is, until my children started to get a bit older and more mature. 

It occurred to me that I would not be a very good parent if I continued to make every decision for my children as they grow older.  When children are little, we tend to dress them in the clothes we want them to wear, plan their schedules, plan their diets, and just generally micromanage their time.  But think about how unhealthy that would be if we treated them the same way when they were twenty-six.  Not only would it be unhealthy, but they would certainly grow to resent our involvement in their lives or, at the very least, be stunted in their development in a way that would paralyze them with inaction when we weren’t around to choose for them.  Enter our relationship with our heavenly father.  As new followers of Christ, it is common for us to run to Jesus with every choice to determine what we should do.  For me, it was pretty awesome to see how God would lead me to the answers to my questions regarding the decisions I had to make, but as time moved on and my relationship with Him deepened, the opportunities for me to choose on my own seemed to keep presenting themselves.  Don’t get me wrong; there are certainly principles of right and wrong that guide our decision making process, there is wisdom in a multitude of counselors, and there certainly are times when the Lord himself intervenes in my decision making process with a red flag or a stop sign, but like the parent of a child who is growing and maturing, I have found that in my life God steps back and waits for me to make the decision on my own.  What should we do in these situations? Well we could allow fear, doubt, and worry to be our guide and just err on the side of caution and play it safe, OR we could err on the side of action, step up to the plate of our lives, and swing for the fences.  I believe that God honors action because action requires faith.  All throughout scripture, we see God honoring people’s faith-filled action.  Why should it be any different for us?  Time and time again I have seen it myself and heard the testimony of others, that when they acted in faith, God acted in response with a blessing that would not have been seen without their action first.  I wonder how much we have missed out on by “playing it safe”.  I wonder how different our world would look if we changed our way of thinking and decided to act in faith.  Test God on this principle and see if what I am saying holds true.  I believe that God loves us so much that he honors our honest attempts even when we miss His plan for a given situation.  That’s when the father catches us with the safety net of his love and grace and sets us back up to try again.  Just like the parent of a toddler helping their child learn to walk, we give our children chances to fall down again and again, right?  No, we give our children not only the chance to learn to walk but the chance to learn to run.  I dare you to run today, and when you do, I bet God smiles.