Risk and Disappointment

What is risk? Risk is stepping outside the bounds of the comfortable into the depths of the unknown. People risk for many reasons, but the primary reason is Hope. Hope for change. Hope for love. Hope for impact. Hope for greatness. Hope to be called beautiful. Hope to make a difference. Hope to be heard and noticed. There are many reasons for hope.

But hope takes root in a heart that is free and open to love, risk, dream, and soar.

Free hearts take risks. And it is how we handle the resulting success or disappointment that will determine the freedom of our hearts to dream and risk again.

Unfortunately, many free hearts are young hearts, because they have not yet faced the devastating disappointment that many of the old hearts have experienced.

Sometimes, we look at a person’s life and say, “They were so on fire when they were young. What happened that made them draw back to a mild, risk-free life? Why did they stop dreaming?”

It is easy for us to look on with an accusing glance, but what we do not see is the times when that soaring heart came crashing down in disappointment and confusion over circumstances in life.

What led to this disappointment? There are many things that can happen, but typically it begins with one particular element—FALSE EXPECTATIONS.

False expectations lead to false hope which ends in disappointment. False expectations are a tricky thing because most of the time, we cannot even identify our own expectations, much less the expectations of someone else. And when our expectations clash with the expectations of someone we love, disappointment and heartbreak ensue.

This is the reason for so many broken relationships, church splits, divorces, and hearts that cease to dream.

We must learn to identify our expectations and bring them into line with reality before that soaring heart comes crashing into the unforeseen wall of disappointment. However, we must not let the fear of disappointment or failure keep us from taking risks.

Free hearts take risks. We must learn how to walk through times of disappointment with an open heart before the Lord so that we can be free to dream and risk again. Let us never stop dreaming and never drawback, so that even when our young hearts become old, they never lose the fire of hope and the freedom to risk.

Hope and the Heart

Funny little thing, that thing called HOPE. Really wonderful if it’s true, and really bad if it’s false, but the very nature of it, doesn’t always allow for clear distinction in the midst of circumstantial matters of the heart.

And that little thing called HOPE is a hard little bugger to kill in a heart that’s alive and filled with it.

But when that heart finds that the HOPE she believed in was false and built on false expectations, it is at this point that the little heart is at a critical state in her existence.

She has several choices. This little heart can choose to shutdown altogether and detach from the way she feels. She can choose to run from the thing that hurt her, and try to numb the pain by quickly filling it with something else. She can become bitter and angry—blaming God, others, and herself. Or she can actively and consistently replace the false hope and disappointment with the truth of God’s love and hope from His Word.

Romans 5:5 says, “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” God’s love will sustain our hopeful hearts in the midst of disappointment if we can keep the precious little thing from shutting down on us.

Many of us don’t want to keep our hearts open because we are too vulnerable in that state, and we feel unprotected. In that place of vulnerability, we call ourselves “a mess” and feel like there is no way to stay safe.

But if we shut our hearts down, we do not fully realize the repercussions of it. We cannot choose to only shut down our heart to the bad and not the good. When we allow part of our heart to shut down, we keep everything out—God, people, love, joy, hope, and sadness.

We must fight to keep our hearts open and tender before the Lord in the midst of dissappointment, even if it means we just cannot “pull ourselves together” sometimes. The only way for us to be healed is to continue to bring an open heart to the Lord and let Him restore hope and remove disappointment with His love.

Follow in the Footsteps

I was hiking yesterday off-trail through a foot of snow. Without any snow-shoes or skis, my feet were sinking a foot down with every step. It was hard work, but I was enjoying it.

I hiked through the woods for an hour, making my own trail, and I was thinking about how much labor it is to   blaze new trails and to go places no one else has gone before.

After about an hour, I was getting very tired and I met up with some footprints leading to the way out. I began to think about how much easier it was to follow in the footsteps of those who have gone before you. I began to be grateful for the great men in history who cared about future generations. I began to be thankful for the older generation alive now, who care about raising up the younger ones, and creating a floor for the next generation to walk on and go higher than they did.

Even though there are times where God has us go and blaze new trails, His design is for us to grow on what the fathers before us have built, and to father those who will come after us. Sometimes, we must blaze new trails, but we must always be mindful of those who will follow behind.

Staying Tough & Tender

As we walk out our relationship with the Lord, it is necessary that we remain tough to persevere through the hard times when the difficulties of life come against us. However, we also must remain tender to freely give love & receive love. It is a fine line that we must walk & also a progressive growth as we mature.

As people are learning to walk this out, the young ones typically swing from one extreme to the other—either finding their identity completely in what people think or who tells them to do what—or becoming totally rebellious & blocking people out of their lives & hearts altogether.

Many times, those older have been burned so much that they shut their passion & emotions down, so that they do not feel. They do not take the risk of opening their heart anymore, because they do not want to feel the pain of rejection or the pain of watching someone walk away.

This is often seen in evangelism & discipleship, because people get tired of reaching out with their whole heart, then watching the people walk away from God. It is also seen in marriage & relationships. Also, this kind of thing can happen in people who reach out for healing or the supernatural.

The way we remain tough in perseverance, however, is not to wall off our heart, but to plumb-line our spirits with the Word of God where we believe it absolutely 100%--even when we do not see a manifestation of it at the present time. Also, we keep our heart & emotions tender by constantly dialoguing with the Lord over the Word, our emotions, & our present circumstances.

Looking at the life of Jesus, He was the most tough, persevering hero throughout history; yet he was also extremely tender, loving, & compassionate. Everything He did was full of passion. As we learn to walk out life in friendship with Jesus, we will continue to grow tough towards opposition, but tender & loving towards God’s people & the things that are on His heart.

Humanism: Adversary to Understanding God's Justice

The base premise of humanism is that man is inherently good. If man is good in his very nature, then man will be able to progress to have unity, equality, tolerance, and great accomplishment. Humanism has permeated every area of our society, & even societies all over the world.

If we do not believe that humans are evil in their very nature, then we will constantly be at war with the idea of God’s justice. Justice is when God gives the just reward for an action. However, if men believe that they are “good people,” then they will see no need for salvation, and they will not rightly understand the mercy or justice of God.

Men blame God when something bad happens—“If He was a God of Love, then why did He allow this to happen?” However, humans do not understand that God is also Just, and He allows actions of sin and lawlessness to reach the maturity of their fruit, which is actually a fulfillment of justice.

The reason we do not understand the Justice of God and the need for His judgments is because somewhere in the dark recesses of our mind, we believe that we are good. Although we would never say it, we actually believe that in some way, we can fulfill our own righteousness. Somehow, we believe that we deserve better than what God is giving us.

The main reason for this war in our minds is believing that men are good by nature. When we finally see that men are not good by nature, we will begin to understand the need for God’s justice, and we will begin to be thankful for His mercy & forgiveness.

If you need to be convinced of the inherent evil nature of man, just watch a couple of toddlers play together for a few minutes. That will do it.

Difference Between Mercy & Justice

Along with the confusion between grace & mercy, people also have confusion between justice & mercy. Many believe that mercy & justice are against each other, but really, they are two sides of the same coin.

The sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross was mercy for us because it was something that we did not deserve; it was God’s heart reaching out to His people to give them a chance to turn back to Him again.

However, the Cross of Christ was also justice, because it was a judgment against evil & the fulfillment of all righteousness & all the Law.  It was seemingly unjust, because an innocent man died for the guilty, but because it was a voluntary act of love—it was a fulfillment of justice.

Now, those who call upon the mercy of God and His redemptive work of the Cross are covered by the blood of Jesus which is necessary for all justice & righteousness to be fulfilled. All of those who do not accept this free gift through the mercy of God will be judged according to the absolute justice of God without the covering of the blood of Jesus which filled that necessary vacuum of injustice.

Many ask, "If God is love, why does He judge?" God is Love, but He is also a Judge. He is Merciful, and He is also Just. He is loving and He is Holy. It is difficult for us to fathom, because we cannot hold this seeming opposites in perfect balance like the Lord can.

When God breaks in on a sickness through healing, He is releasing mercy to the person who does not deserve it because of their own righteousness, and He is fulfilling justice by responding to the completed work of the blood of Jesus. He is also fulfilling justice by judging the evil sickness, disease, & death which Jesus conquered on the Cross.

When God saves or delivers someone, He is extending mercy to them, because in their own power, they do not deserve that salvation or deliverance, but because they are applying the legal transaction of Jesus on the Cross, they are appealing to the legal implications of His complete fulfillment of the Law.

Many ask why God is allowing wickedness to keep prevailing and getting darker. It is because He has extended mercy so many will turn. However, at times when He does release judgments, it is also mercy, because people’s eyes are opened to the grave nature of their sin, and they are given the opportunity to turn. Also, those who do not turn are removed; thus, releasing mercy on those who evil was tormenting.

We must understand that God can hold all of His attributes in complete and perfect balance. God is both merciful and just, and we cannot pit mercy and justice against each other as though they were enemies. They are both part of the nature of God, and we should ask Him to help us understand them more.

Difference Between Mercy & Grace

So many times, I hear the words “mercy” and “grace” used interchangeably in conversations. I also speak several languages, and I often hear people translate grace for mercy and mercy for grace. This is an error. I believe it is a doctrinal error more than a translation error. People do not understand the difference between mercy and grace. They are not the same thing.

Mercy is getting what we do not deserve. This is when we deserve punishment, but God takes the punishment away or delays it to give us time to turn. God was merciful to us by sending His own Son to die on the cross to take away the punishment that we rightfully deserve because of sin.

Grace, however, is the ability or power to do something. The Greek word charis means “grace” and has a similar meaning to the word “gift.” It is where we get the words charisma, charismata, and charismatic. These words all trace back to a gift, ability, or power to be able to accomplish a specific purpose or task.

Why is it important to distinguish between grace and mercy? Because when I say, “God, give me mercy…” I am asking Him to forgive me for my wrongs and give me something I do not deserve. I am asking Him to take away my punishment that I rightfully deserve. When I say, “God, give me grace…” I am asking Him for the ability to walk in holiness and not walk in sin.

If I am praying for someone and I say, “God, release your grace over them,” then I am asking God to give them the ability to walk in holiness and righteousness. However, if someone translates it as, “God, release your mercy over them,” then the meaning changes to, “God, give them the ability to receive your forgiveness for sin, and give them something that they do not deserve.” Both are good prayers and both are needed, but they are not the same.

The problem is that when we have a wrong view of the difference between grace and mercy, we will not correctly see the need for holiness. God gives us the grace to walk in holiness, but He gives us mercy for when we fail. We cannot use them interchangeably, because it will cause a disaster in our theology to the point where we do not understand the need for grace in relation to holiness.

Hebrews 4:16 says that we “come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” We obtain mercy at the throne of God by being covered with the blood of Jesus who took away our punishment for sin. Then, we find grace in our time of need to strengthen us in walking out our salvation.