“He (God) is always using past experiences to prepare us for future opportunities.  But those God-given opportunities often come disguised as man-eating lions.  We can cower in fear and run away from our greatest challenges.  Or we can chase our God-ordained destiny by seizing the God-ordained opportunity.  Sin of commission is a regret of action or wishing you hadn’t done something.  Sin of omission is a regret of inaction or wishing you had done something.  We think holiness is the byproduct of subtracting something from our lives that shouldn’t be there.  And holiness certainly involves subtraction.  But I think God is more concerned about sins of omission- those things we could have and should have done.  Goodness is not the absence of badness.  You can do nothing wrong and still do nothing right.  Our calling is much higher than simply running away from what’s wrong.  We’re called to chase lions.”

The above is taken from “In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day” by Mark Batterson.  He bases this book on a warrior named Benaiah who is written about in the book of 2 Samuel the 23rd chapter, verses 20-21.  Benaiah did not run away.  He killed two of Moab’s mightiest warriors.  Armed only with a club, he took the spear from a great Egyptian warrior and killed him.  And Benaiah chased a lion into a pit.  Despite the snowy and slippery ground he caught the lion and killed it.  He did not run away.  Was he afraid?  My vote would be yes.  He didn’t let size, circumstances, or fear stop him. 

“When we don’t have the guts to step out in faith and chase lions, then God is robbed of the glory that rightfully belongs to Him.  Spiritual maturity is seeing and seizing God-ordained opportunities.  God wants you to get where God wants you to go more than you want to get where God wants you to go.”

Let’s pray for opportunities to minister.  Let’s pray for eyes to see God-ordained opportunities and strength to seize them. 

Let’s pray for lions to chase and let’s chase them!

Oh, and on your way to chase a lion….buy this book.  Every person should read it!

kim