15 November 2011

Taken a Risk Lately?

Something that's been on my mind in recent days is just what does it mean to take a risk. Maybe we should define that as a calculated, Biblical risk. To get an understanding I referred back to John Piper's book, Don't Waste Your Life where on page 90 we read

The strength to risk losing money for the cause of the Gospel is the faith that we have a treasure in the heavens that cannot fail. ...When we risk losing face or money or life because we believe God will always help us and use our loss, in the end, to make us more glad in his glory, then it's not we who get the praise because of our courage; it's God who gets the praise because of his care.

Even to those of us who are security minded,  risk is ever present. Every time we drive our car, witness to a friend or a stranger, take a vacation, or whatever it is, it will be a risk. Even staying sealed up in our homes is a risk. We cannot escape risk because we don't know what  the Lord will bring us. Illness, loss of income, death of our spouse, our Father controls it all. We wouldn't have our Pastors and certainly not our missionaries without someone to take a risk. Moreover, we all took a risk when we became believers. Being a Christian is a huge risk. So I ask myself, when did I last take a risk? When did you, my friend, last take a risk for the cause of the Gospel? Let's not waste our lives living out the myth of security.

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