Are you living your life fully alive?
A few years back I was talking to a brother who purchased a motorcycle and had gotten an amazing deal. It was clean, garage kept, very low mileage and had lots of chrome!
Its previous owner had purchased it as their first bike. They rode it for a little while, and then had an incident that scared them. Something about gravel on the road, almost going down.
All of us who ride have been there, we've had those "oh my!" moments. If you haven't... you will. At some point in your riding experience you will encounter our old buddy, fear comes and a choice will have to be made.
At that moment we have two choices. Keep riding, or give it up. The "fear factor" influences our choice. If we choose to keep riding, we have no guarantee the next ride won't be our last.
If we keep riding, we have accepted that.
Many people in our lives don't understand that choice, to keep riding. They pull us aside, tell us to stop. Some of them care, they are afraid for us. Some of them are simply afraid and try to influence us with the choice they have made for themselves.
Riding a motorcycle is not for everyone, but living a life fully alive is. Fear of unknown consequences can cripple a life. A lack of trust in the Lord and where He wants to take us can cripple our walk with Him.
"From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!"
Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns."
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?" Matthew 16:22-26 (NIV)
Read that one part again, "For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?"
If we hold back from God, cling to our life attempting to control everything by avoiding anything that looks risky, we will forfeit our very soul. This reminds me of the song, The Rose by Bette Midler.
It's the heart afraid of breaking
That never learns to dance
It's the dream afraid of waking
That never takes the chance
It's the one who won't be taken
Who cannot seem to give
And the soul afraid of dying
That never learns to live
Jesus Christ offers an abundant life. But in order to live it, we have to let go of everything and trust him. We need to put aside our fear, throw our leg over the bike, and ride once more.
