r - i - s - k

To laugh is to risk ... appearing a fool.

To weep is to risk ... appearing sentimental.
To reach out for another is to risk ... involvement.
To expose feelings is to risk ... rejection.
To place your dreams before the crowd is to risk ... ridicule.
To love is to risk ... being loved in return.
To go forward in the face of overwhelming odds is to risk ... failure.

But, risks must be taken, because the greatest risk of all is to risk nothing.
Those who risk nothing ... do nothing, have nothing, are nothing.
They may temporarily avoid suffering and sorrow, but
They cannot feel, learn, change, grow, live, or love.
Chained by their certitudes, they become slaves forfeiting their freedom.
Only the person who risks is free.
~ Chuck Swindoll

a tiny little ant

While doing a study on some of the reasons God sent Jesus to live as a man, I came across a perfect analogy. It may be a bit simplistic, but it works for me.

"If all the world was a colony of ants, and you as a human wanted to communicate with them, how could you best do that?"

"Become an ant?"

"That's right! That's exactly what God did!"

So, why did God send Jesus to be born, to die, and to rise again?

God sent Jesus to:

show the world that He loves us

demonstrate what God is like

give us the gift of eternal life

be reconciled to God

be the atonement for our sins

be the Savior of the world

"The birth of Jesus was not, as in ordinary births, the creation of a new personality. It was a divine Person -- already existing -- entering on this new mode of existence. Miracle could alone effect such a wonder."

The Virgin Birth of Christ, by James Orr

By this the love of God was manifested (shown, revealed) in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (atoning sacrifice, payment) for our sins.

1 John 4:9-10 NAS

the Holy Bible

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God did not write a book and send it by messenger to be read at a distance by unaided minds. He spoke a Book and lives in His spoken words, constantly speaking His words and causing the power of them to persist across the years. ~A W Tozer

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d l moody

“Out of one hundred men, one will read the Bible, the other ninety-nine will read the Christian.”

~ D L Moody

“In our prayers, we talk to God, in our Bible study, God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.”

~ D L Moody