It was Dan Taylor who wrote in The Myth of Certainty,
Risk, as we have seen, is indispensable to any significant life, nowhere more clearly than in the life of the spirit. The goal of faith is not to create a set of immutable, rationalized, precisely defined and defendable beliefs to preserve forever.
It is to recover a relationship with God.
I can think of many adjectives to describe a relationship with God but “safe” is certainly not one of them.
A true God-seeker (to my mind) rejects any quest for safety.
In his book Dangerous Wonder Michael Yaconelli wrote,
C. S. Lewis described Aslan, the Christ figure in the Chronicles of Narnia, as a “not so tame lion.” The reason so many of us have lost our childhood curiosity is that we’ve been tamed. Our world is populated with domesticated grownups who would rather settle for safe, predictable answers instead of wild, unpredictable mystery. Faith has been reduced to a comfortable system of beliefs about God instead of an uncomfortable encounter with God.
If God is The One who “…knows the plans He has for us” as Jeremiah 29:11 states. Then I believe we must also embrace the idea—that as The Designer with our plans—He is also our Destiny-keeper.
If we are in pursuit of destiny, then essentially we are in pursuit of, that not-so-tame-lion.
Definitely a risky proposition!
Yaconelli labeled this quest: a risky curiosity.
He maintained that, “only with a childlike faith” can we be so “daring, reckless, bold, and aggressive.”
Surely these must be necessary attributes for a God-seeker, for seeking Him means we reject security and certainty, and instead, we choose to plunge headlong into the mists of that wild and unpredictable mystery.
No indeed, seeking our destiny is not about playing it safe.
It’s about wanting that something more, and deciding to boldly go after it. It’s about a deep longing to live a life of significance and purpose, outside of ourselves and hedonistic pursuits. A God-seeker dares for a life lived beyond the mundane for the betterment of others. A God-seeker will risk whatever it takes to search out The One, who holds their destiny in His keeping, believing that destiny is the very kingdom–purpose for which they were born.
Perhaps that is why I have always heard the whispers of that Wild Lion, when I would read those words the Apostle Paul wrote in his third chapter to the Philippians,
Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12
“…that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended…”
Can you hear Him?
Does your heart burn with longing?
Yes?
That is what I want.
That is Who I seek.
[ Hillsong lyrics ]
Women With Destiny 