Death Defying Acts - Let Go, Let God

Some people are so terrified of roller coasters they don't even want to watch others ride them. Then, some are so brave and death-defying they release their grip on restraints locking them in and fling their arms skyward as the coaster crests the peak and accelerates through weightlessness down the steep track.

Actually, the brave are only acknowledging the truth that their death grip on the restraint wasn't going to hold them securely in the coaster through all the twists, turns, accelerations, and stomach heaving drops anyway. It's the shoulder harness and lap restraints holding them in. The strength of their grip on the restraint adds absolutely nothing - but a false sense of doing something and a diversion from enjoying the ride.

For years I was what I call a white-knuckled Christian holding fast to the hem of Christ's robe with all my strength. I wanted to be a faithful Christian, but, at the time, I thought it was by my will and my strength that I exercised faith over my mind's uncertainties. And it took a great deal of my attention and focus to hold fast.

I had a totally unscriptural (worldly) idea of faith as something your heart willed and forced on your mind to cover over doubts.

I knew there was a God - no question whatsoever about that - but it still seemed I had to hold on with all my strength. Then God brought Ravi Zacharias and his books into my life. I saw the Christian life of the mind and that there were reasons to believe what I believed. The faith I previously saw as an act of will became more an act of reasonable response to the evidence. My heart and mind were no longer schizophrenic but united into a whole being.

Just as God brought this into my life, it also dawned on me that it never was my strength holding God but His strength holding me fast - "and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand." Jn 10:28

Realizing and acting on the truth is a very brave thing to do whether it's letting go on the roller coaster or letting go of God and letting (trusting, faith) His strength hold you.