Risky Business

A 1983 movie starring Tom Cruise chronicled a Chicago teenager looking for fun while his parents were out of town. The notion of risky here was putting his parents wrath in play in exchange for some teenage fun. Most peeps attempt to steer away from a risky lifestyle because they are not willing to exchange the displeasure of the world for personal pleasure. Of course the basis for risk here is the exchange of favor of the world for doing things the way the world expects. As I have blogged many times, this is simply carnal mindedness, which is the opposite of what we may think. We have been taught to believe "carnal minded" is the search for pleasure, but that is just hedonism. Carnal minded according to Scripture is seeking our well being by exchanging our behavior with the world to extract for ourselves what the world has to offer us (respect, love, comfort, safety, economic benefit, etc.).

What is risky business for the Kingdom minded peep? Consider that Grace compels us to give with no expectation of return and to receive with  no obligation to return. This suggests that what seems to be risky is really the path of least risk. Grace drives us to "recklessness". What? How so? That doesn't sound Christian, to live recklessly. Isn't that risky business?

"Reckless" means careless, or without care. So, if we don't care about fear, or pride, or hedonism, or worldly security, or comfort, then we seem reckless to the world. In this way Grace makes us reckless and appears as risky business.

Yet, Grace gives us joy, peace, eternal security, love, ........  So when we act in Thanksgiving (not duty) from the Grace we have received we can give, love, share, speak truth, wait, and so forth without any expectation of receiving because we already have everything we need for our well being forever. The world perceives us as risky when we move on the unctions of God because we do not appease the world, but in reality "reckless" Grace is the least risky lifestyle there is.

When you feel constrained from responding as God has prompted you because of what others may think, then you have risked the quality of life that is our privilege as a child of the Kingdom!! Just look at all the actions Jesus took that shocked the world's establishment.

Something to ponder .....

If I were only just a little ....

How often have we heard someone say, "I wish I were a little bigger, or a little smaller, especially here or there"? Or "I wish I were a little more like this or less like that"? Heck, maybe we say something like this ourself oh so often!!

Being obsessed with one's perceived physical appearance or personality flaws is quite common, especially in Western cultures. Why is this so common? Is there something wrong with the culture? Or is there something in each of us that sources this obsession? Maybe its the combination of the two?

We know that culture is a sociological phenomenon that influences what people value and what is normal. When society values certain forms of appearance and certain kinds of behavior over others (and I believe all do), then peeps are prone to attach what makes them acceptable and important to these social norms and values. Couple this with the carnal mind's notion that I get what makes me happy by exchanging what I have with what the world wants to get what it has for me in return. Obsession is born.

Now many if not all of you reading this know that our self worth is not in what we do or how we look. The Kingdom mind learns that value and identity is granted to us by God's grace (the atonement of the Cross).

Kingdom minded peeps want to be healthy and behave in respectable ways because excellence is God's way and these add quality to the testimony of our life.Yet we still obsess. We forever fall prey to the forces of culture.

The fact is we KNOW this, the question is why don't we act on what we know.

The answer may be in that knowledge does not equal belief and without belief there is no action.

What keeps us from believing what we know??  

Now that is worth pondering ........