When it comes to a worship service, I’m usually the one doing the talking.

So I was really looking forward to a service I attended on Tuesday night in Midland at Knox Church. My friend and colleague Alton Ruff said that when Jesus calls us to do something, it quite often involves going out of our comfort zone.

Remember James and John, the fishermen? In Mark 1:20 (NIV) we read, “Without delay [Jesus] called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.”

They had probably saved up money for materials, spent time learning the craft, and been apprenticed under their father. But when Jesus invited them to follow him, they simply got up and left it all behind.

Including their father who was still in the boat!

His point was this: “Jesus is worth the risk.”

First, it’s good to acknowledge that following Jesus is in fact a risk. You give up being your own boss, you risk standing out, you risk going into situations that are outside your comfort zone because you sense God telling you to get in there and help.

And second, you come to realize that no one else can give what Jesus gives—salvation, eternity, purpose, forgiveness, truth, comfort, unending love…

Way back then, the disciples decided—almost, it seems, in an instant—that Jesus was worth the risk.

He still is.

As you think about your own walk through life, what are you holding back?

“Jesus is worth the risk.”

By Matthew Ruttan