Have you ever considered that your lack of risk in this life (for kingdom things) means you are not letting Jesus out? He so longs to touch the marginalized, to serve quietly, to say the difficult word in the perfect timing, to pray for a stranger who is barely hanging on to life.

I want to let Jesus out, let Him do His amazing thing–the art of loving a needy world through the vessel of imperfect me. You?

I heard the whispers of this sentiment when I walked into a church in Montreal, where a man bowed low in the pew, silent agony echoing through him. I clearly heard Jesus say, “Pray for that man.”

“Oh Lord,” I said. “What if he doesn’t speak English. You know my French is bad.”

I walked by him again, debating.

“Pray for that man.”

I debated with Jesus again, but Jesus, as He is wont to do, won the argument.

So I asked the man, “Est-ce-que vous parlez Anglais?” (Do you speak English?)

He nodded.

“Do you mind if I pray for you?”

“Yes, I would like that.”

So I prayed. For restoration. For whatever hurt his heart that day. For his family. For reconciliation. All the words Jesus seemed to be inspiring me to say, I prayed.

And when it was over, I could see Jesus in that man’s eyes, a thankful wistfulness residing behind dark eyes. “Thank you,” he said.

As I walked away, that’s when I sensed Jesus say I needed to let Him out more. That my comfortable life of doing all the easy things, of living riskless, of staying self absorbed in my own easily manipulated universe, had to end if I wanted Jesus to “get out.”

I needed to take Him to the byways, to the places of suffering, to the refugees, to the people and places He loved to visit. For Him to be let out meant I want to let go of my fear, of my comfort, of my desire to keep things easy and status quo. I had to inconvenience myself, be ready to appear the fool, to welcome possible rejection.

Because, folks, Jesus wants to be let out. To do the cool things only He can do through broken folks like us toward broken folks like us. Two brokens plus one Jesus equals awesome.

So I’ll end this by asking you this: What prevents you today from Letting Jesus Out?

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Jesus asks us to live in such a way that we let Him out to love all kinds of people. That = risk. Click to tweet.