Have you had to defend your faith recently? Unless we intentionally go out and put ourselves into those types of situations, they seldom come anymore, at least that is true in America. I challenge you to put yourself in places where you have to defend your faith. Where you can either deny Jesus, or uphold him, no matter the consequences. That is where your faith grows the most. Acts 21 details Paul's journey into Jerusalem knowing that he will be persecuted and beaten for professing the name Jesus Christ. He was fully prepared to die for the name of Jesus as he walked into Jerusalem. He didn't stay where it was safe and neither did Jesus, so why do we try so hard to avoid judgment and persecution? We stay in our bubble because it can be awkward to talk about Jesus. We live in a place of no risk but infinite reward. The worst that can happen is them not liking you and it being awkward. The best thing that can happen is adding one to the kingdom of God. I don't know about you, but I would say that the good definitely outweighs the bad, and I'll tell you one thing. I'll take awkward over beaten and jailed any day of the week. But if being beaten and imprisoned like Paul is what it takes, we shouldn't hesitate to go down that road either because we serve a God greater than anything we can imagine.
The lack of risk is dangerous. It is easy for us to not depend on God as much as those who are under constant threat of being arrested and killed for their faith. Our faith is not tested like theirs. I will leave you with a few questions. If you're life was on the line and all it took to save it was to deny Jesus, would you continue to profess your faith or would you fold? What if it was instead the life of a loved one on the line? To take it one step further, would you intentionally walk into that situation knowing what would come of it just as Jesus did? Just as Paul did? Sometimes we NEED risk and danger to avoid complacency.
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