I recently shared a cockamamie story of feeling led to give away McDonald dollars to someone I’d just met named Patton.

Maybe, like me, you’ve wrestled with the questions…

Is this a step of faith or a fabrication?

Is this a moment of Immanuel or my imagination?

In the post, How to Hear from God, I provide 5 crucial questions to ask to determine if that nudge is from God.

But we need to ask another crucial question… and not just when we’re trying to hear from God.

The question we need to ask:

How will I grow if I take this risk?

As followers of Jesus, we’re prone to talk a lot about faith, but not enough about risk.

Yet risk is the wingman of faith.

The book of Hebrews defines faith as the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)

Faith is often an active choice to believe or move forward in obedience. Risk is taking the first step. Whenever I risk—whether financial, emotional or relational in nature—I can’t help but think of the possible outcome.

You can’t stare the eyes of those who comprise the cloud of witnesses without seeing men and women who took great risk—with their lives, families, and livelihoods in response to the sacred echo and in wild pursuit of obedience to God.

Responding to the sacred echoes in your life will always involve risk. Yet the rewards outweigh the risk.

The rewards are knowing God in ways that you could not know him otherwise.

The rewards are a vibrant relationship, an overflowing soul, and a joyful display of real relationship with God.

Sure, you might be wrong. But what if you’re right?

Sure, you can play it safe. But if what if you risk?

I recently tracked down Patton to find out what happened with those McDonald’s dollars. It turns out he had handed the bucks to a homeless man within a block of leaving the hotel. As far as the rest of the story, well, we’ll have to wait until heaven to find out, but I suspect it’s worth the wait.

My hope and prayer for you is that you’ll lead a life of quick obedience to God. Then when we’re in heaven together, God will pull back the curtain and reveal all He’s done through your faithfulness.

If you’d like to know more about the The Sacred Echo book and 6-session DVD Bible study, click here