Tuesday's Takeaway: From Safe to Crazy

When was the last time your faith was anything more than ordinary?

This Sunday, Pastor Dean of 5 Point Church challenged me by showing me myself - an American Christian whose faith is often not obvious to those around me and often not bold enough to believe God for something crazy.

We use the word "crazy" to identify people who appear absurdly out of place: the teenager with rainbow colored hair, the person whose outfits do not meet "acceptable fashion,' people who say things no one else would utter. "Crazy" really should describe anyone who follows Christ. When we trust and follow Him, our citizenship belongs to heaven, and as a result, we are aliens and strangers in this world. We should appear crazy because we are no longer of this world. Our behavior should be obviously different from everyone else's. We should stand out, but far too many of us are consumed with anything other than Jesus.

Crazy faith is what I say with my mouth that I want, but it is something I rarely step into. I realized Sunday that I rarely do anything that requires crazy faith because I am afraid. I am afraid of what people will think, afraid that maybe I'm just acting selfishly, afraid that God really won't come through... Fear cancels out faith. I've seen it in my own life, and I've seen it in others'.

When Jesus' disciples could not drive demons out of a young boy in Matthew 17, Jesus clearly said it was because they had so little faith. Do we believe God or just believe in God? There's a huge difference, the difference between faith that changes nothing and faith that changes everything.

Here's the challenge - examine your life and what it is you need to believe God for. What circumstances hinge on your ability to believe, and what fears are you allowing to suppress the faith God wants you to have? God is honored by our bold prayers and crazy faith, and He is waiting on us to step out and just believe Him. Believe He is good, believe He hears you, and let nothing alter that belief. We will be amazed what happens when we have the faith of a mustard seed. The mountains in our lives will move, and we'll never be the same.