High Risk, High Reward
By Pastor Jeffrey Smith
I recently read a definition of audacious that really challenged me. It characterized the act of being audacious as being intrepidly daring or recklessly bold. For whatever reason the first thing that comes to my mind when I think on that definition is base jumping. There’s nothing more recklessly bold than holding a mini-parachute under your armpit, jumping off a mountain, and freefalling at 119mph. Maybe you don’t necessarily want to fly, but I think there is a feeling in all of us that wonders “Could I do that?”
Do you ever wish your life looked like that? When was the last time you did something so risky you got sweaty palms? I’m not talking about using a bathroom at a 7-11, I’m talking about living a high-risk life, a life that exposes you to loss or injury. Risk is implicitly dangerous. There are people that try doing a backflip on a trampoline, break their leg and, in a self-preserving manner, see the risk and never try again. They assess the potential for injury or loss and figure that not engaging in that behavior is in their best interest. However, if you look at the lives of people that have faced massive failure yet still mastered their respective skill, they experience things that normal people never could. Do you want to live a life just playing it safe?
As Christians, somewhere along the lines we’ve convinced ourselves that this is a low-risk, low commitment life, where you just show up once a week and is characterized by do’s and don’ts. This quote by Diedrich Boenhoeffer struck me to my core: “To delay or fail to make decisions may be more sinful than to make wrong decisions out of faith and love…” In essence what this is saying is that to wait or delay doing things that involve risk may be even worse than making a mistake under the guide of faith. Hebrews 11:6 further illustrates this point: “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Our world requires faith that takes risks, faith that looks at the difficult circumstances and yet still has the conversation with the person who doesn’t know Jesus, gives even in poverty, and serves even in the troubling season. That kind of faith yields a high reward.
