Hedging My Bets

Every risk manager knows not to put all his or her faith in one investment or dream.  You need to diversify in order to protect one's interests, regardless of how you feel about the possible success of any one particular strategy or plan.

Apparently, some of the disciples felt the same way about Jesus.

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted.- Matthew 28:16-17

There is something refreshingly positive about this, knowing that even those closest to him throughout his ministry had doubts, after he was raised.

When it comes to matters of faith, how do we hedge our bets?  How do we say yes, we believe, and yet hold a small percentage of ourselves in doubt, just in case?

I was talking with a volunteer yesterday who asked me to read a post about reincarnation and near death experiences.  He found the information "scary" because it talked about balance.  Everything we do in this life, he said, comes back to us when we die, and we are held accountable for it all.

Jesus said similar things, so I was not as frightened to read this as he.  I am sure there is an opportunity here to share the Gospel with him, but what got  my attention was how troubling this concept was and how it caused him to raise doubts about his own goodness and purpose.

Is that what God wants for us, to live in constant fear of doing something wrong?

Jesus took the sting out of that fear by sharing himself with us, letting us know we only had to turn to God and use him as a means of turning, in order to hedge our bets, so to speak, to rebalance the equation and remove all doubt.

I like that approach.  It lessens the burned, lightens the load.  So, why did some continue to doubt?

I don't know, but the fact that they did means there is hope for all of us.  Even if we slip form time to time, we can set ourselves right again.  What better way to diversify than that?

More to come...