Hebrews 11:16 “Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”
Do you think of yourself as a risk-taker?
Some risks are relatively harmless. One time my husband pursued aerial photography. He would rent a plane and while I tried to keep us from nose-diving, he would lean out the cockpit and snap pictures of properties. But when we tried to sell the photos to the property owners, we found out they all happened to be photographers, pilots, or had relatives who were. Thankfully, God shut down that risk before we literally crashed and burned.
Other risks require great courage. Eric Metaxas, in If You Can Keep It, chronicles the tremendous risk-taking of America’s founding fathers. Nathan Hale, who was captured by the British and hung for being a spy, is most famously known for his dying words, “I regret that I have but one life to give for my country.” Paul Revere risked riding like a madman through the colonies to warn his countrymen the British were coming. All the signers of the Declaration of Independence realized when they placed their signature on that document they were signing their death warrants if the war didn’t go their way. Yet they risked for something greater than themselves.
I know of an even better country born from risk.
The Bible presents a litany of risk-takers: Noah and the ark, Moses and the Exodus, Rahab and the spies. There’s Peter, Paul, Stephen. Can we even have faith without a mindset of taking risks? Hebrews 11 paints a pretty clear picture of those heroes of our faith who were not afraid to lose one thing in order to gain something better. They refused to tie themselves to their reputations, comfort or security and they invite all believers who come after them to imitate their brave hearts.
We will never know (this side of eternity) what our lives may have been like if we had taken more risks in order to follow God’s call. But we can, as did those who have gone before us, lay it all on the line in order to obtain a better country. A country where God will not be ashamed to have taken the risk to be called our God.