When Following Christ, How Far is Too Far?

When following Christ, how far is too far? Is it reckless trust, or just trust?

We ponder questions like, "what if I lose my home?" "What if I lose my income?" "What if I have nothing to fix my car or nothing to eat?" "Did I follow Christ too closely or not close enough?"

Does following Christ mean unanswered questions with unwavering praise? No one taught this part.

Trusting God - What does it look like?

It seems to look “unlikely with a full chance of failure” and everyone asking, “What are you doing?”, “I think this time you’ve lost it.”, “This seems reckless.”. Support from loved ones doesn’t exist when you’re living for God; they remember when you weren’t.

How would I advise someone going into ministry to have a different experience and cut down on a few of these? Have a sending church. Of course, that only makes sense. But when God says go, and there’s no time to grapple with and serve and convince a church, you really do love the Lord. When God says go, you go. He would redirect where you go on your way if it was a heart posture, like Abraham and Isaac and the commitment of Abraham's heart to give God his son and all of his promises with him. I doubt he thought of any of those promises at the moment, but the Bible says,

“By faith, Abraham built an altar knowing that God could raise Issac from the dead.” - Hebrews 11:19

He did it anyway. That sounds beyond reckless.

I don’t understand. Am I actually to live this way? Did Abraham live this way all the time? Or did he pass the test, and it was over? Did Abraham tell anyone of his need, or did he go boldly and build the altar? Scripture suggests only he knew.

And what of Isaac? Scholars agree he had to be around 25 years of age. His dad trained all of his servants to be warriors. I imagine his son got the best of that training. Isaac could not have been forced to lay on the altar. Isaac would have laid down willingly.

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Scripture doesn’t suggest their relationship was harmed over this faith exercise. Where is my faith that at the end of the exercise, I’m exhausted and spent, and relationships take a toll? What happened differently for Abraham and Isaac? Was trust all there was so somehow easier to recklessly rely on a God you couldn’t see? I think this could possibly be cited as the most reckless thing a person of faith ever did. I’ve never heard of this happening since. So what were they doing differently that I’m not? How did Abraham serve the Lord and walk with the Lord so that his faith was this strong and Isaac was raised not to question God but go boldly knowing, “God will provide.”.

What am I missing?

Every time I read the story of Abraham, even before Isaac, I see a messy man and wife with their own mistakes. I was just living life. But in moments of quick action, Abraham is prepared. As I remember these stories, I am checking for anything missing. Did I miss something between the lines? Abraham did what he thought he was supposed to do, messed up, and God fixed it. “By faith, Abraham built an altar knowing that God could raise Isaac front he dead.”.

Was his faith his track record for failing and God scooping him up and fixing the situation? Was the real faith that he knew God would fix it? Is that it? Do what I believe He’s telling me to do, and God will fix it if I miss it? Am I having reckless faith or just being reckless? Was Abraham reckless? Am I reckless?

Is faith reckless to follow Christ like this? I'm reminded that Jesus says, “Fear not...” Remember that!