The Tragedy of the “what if” life

How many Christians in the west live fear motivated lives? I call them “what if” lives. “God can’t be calling me to this, because “what if . . .” There are so many what ifs, hearing them, paying attention to them is good, but being controlled by them is tragic – and unbiblical. When Jesus asks us to partner with him in his Kingdom agenda he does not require recklessness, but it invites us into lives without fear. How tragic it is that so many who claim to follow Him seem value security and certainty and worship the “what if” more than they do him.

Thumb through the bible, thumb through human history, both are filled with people who did amazing things, things that if it turned out that there was no God, would have been crazy, but they stepped out into uncertainty with a certainty of who God is. And you know what? They never would have done it if they had been controlled by our obsession with security and certainty, if they lived lives of fear, lies of what if.

Nobody knows how life is going to play out. Life is filled with surprise and mystery and uncertainty. So, what do you do with that if you live a what if life? Do you huddle in fear and decide not to follow God unless you have all of the answers? God has always called people into moments, invited inviting them to join him by not to settle for the myth of security (which ironically ignores the fact that all plans can be shattered by a thousand unknowns even if we never step out to join God in what he is doing). God has always been in the business of calling people to step out into the reality that he promises us a life without fear – if we choose to take him up on it. God never promises that all the “what ifs” will be answered. In fact, I don’t think he wants them answered, I don’t think God wants us to have certainty as to how everything will work out when he calls us to step out in faith. Instead, he promises that if we shelve the myth of security and follow him when he calls that we will live amazing lives that will not be wasted, that is the certainty God gives us.

And so, my question: are you going to live your life trapped in fear and uncertainty or are you going to walk with confidence in the certainty that you have? And then laugh in the face of uncertainty. Because in the end we do not need to know the answers to all the “what if;” we don’t need to know, we just need to go, to follow, to trust, to surrender, and then to listen for his voice calling us to join him in what he is doing, and then do so. Faith means being willing to step out in the midst of uncertainty with the certainty that our lives will not be wasted when we step out to partner with God in what He is doing.

So many people spend their lives hoping that God will pick them for great things, "oh, pick me, pick me." And they wait and they wait for the time when there is no risk, they wonder why God never picked them, and die having lives wasted lives.

A fear based life of “what ifs” is sad in the present, but a tragedy in the end.