That’s actually a pretty good question.  What are you so afraid of?  One of the dominate reasons we don’t live the lives in God that we want is fear.  Fear of what? Failure, Rejection, being found out, not measuring up, fear that you will have to give up a bad relationship, habit, free time.

What is the worst thing that could happen from any of these?  Now compare that answer to this, what is the best that could come from living a life completely sold out to Christ?  What lives would be changed, how would you be transformed, what would, what could God do through you and what is that worth?

1 John 4:18 says, there is no fear in love, because perfect love drives out fear.  When I was a kid and still dating, the goal was to only let the person see what you thought they would like, and don’t invest too much because, well, I needed to keep my options open.  Come on you know you were the same way!

When I started dating Carrie Taylor, my wife, everything changed.  I didn’t want to hold anything back.  As knew that there would never be a better option and I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life trying to cover something up and feeling fear about how she would respond once she found out who I really was.   Carrie and I have just celebrated our 16 wedding anniversary and I am more in love and feel closer to her now than I ever have.  There is no fear in our relationship, because we know each other completely and love each other despite ALL of Carrie shortcomings.  Ok, maybe I have a couple too.

Listen, God has a God sized, God shaped, Better-than-you-can-imagine plan for your life.  If you are sitting on the sidelines, too afraid to get out there and live it, chances are the problem isn’t all those things you think you are afraid of.  Most likely it really boils down to this, you just don’t know Him well enough yet.  Take some time this week to really spend some time with your Heavenly Father.  Be honest and real with him.  Let him tell you how He see you and your situation.

Remember courage isn’t the absents of fear, it is the determination to act in spite of the fear.

What is it that really makes life, life?  Jesus said, “I have come that you may have life in abundance”, above and beyond life.  But I am not sure you could call what many people are doing, “living”!

What does it take to break out of all of our hurts, history, fears, failures and schedules to experience the kind of life we read about in the pages of scripture?

Let me challenge you to read some of the great stories of the Bible this week.  What do they inspire you to believe for your life and the lives of those you love?  Do you think you are living up to God’s hope for you?  What would it take to change?

Come this week and find out in our new series, Man v/s Wild