A friend of mine took a risk today. Unfortunately, he did not win out on the risk. However, I am quite pleased with him. My friend is not normally one to act in such a way, but with encouragement, he got up the guts to go ahead and do it. Sure, he lost what he was going after, but he was willing to try.
My friend realized something and it’s something I need to realize more often also. Life is an adventure. There are rarely times where we know what will happen with certainty. We have to go out and take a chance. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, is certainly a true maxim to keep in mind.
Consider any adventure story? Does the hero know he will leave the fight alive? Not usually, unless he’s really skilled and fighting a weak opponent. Do not the heroes often take the most desperate drives and rush into the most dangerous odds in an attempt to get at that one sliver of hope? Yep.
Friends. Life is not to be played safe. Where would we be today if the church played it safe? In fact, maybe the reason we are in this situation in America is that the American church plays it safe. The disciples knew nothing about playing it safe. Go read Hebrews 11 and get to the end and read about what they were willing to go through.
We need leaders today. We need leaders that will stand up and face the world and say “Your system needs to change!” We need people who will stand up in the public square when Christ is maligned and say “That is my Lord you are speaking about!” We need to learn from the JWs and Mormons. They are highly evangelistic with a lie. We have the truth and don’t have half the evangelism they have.
My friend is a model for all of us now. Now are you going to speak up at times and get laughed at and shamed? Yes. Deal with it. Are you going to take chances at times and lose out? Yep. Deal with it. Are you going to enter into a debate and get stumped with a hard question and not know an answer? Deal with it and read up and learn an answer.
J.P. Moreland once said that when you start apologetics, what will happen is that as you start, you’ll go out from time to time and get your tail feathers blown out from under you. I am sure he speaks from experience. So do I. This happened to me numerous times when I started. Arguments that in the past made me cringe and be fearful today do not even make me blink.
Why? Because I kept taking risks. I’ve been in a number of debates now. I still get nervous before many of them, but each time, they get easier and easier. It’s a risk. I know I’m putting my reputation on the line and worse, the way some people might see Christianity. If I am seen as a champion of the faith and I fail, what might some people think about the faith?
Friends. We have to risk though. There’s no excuse to not do so. We are on an adventure and we need to live it like an adventure. We can cross the finish line in Heaven without taking a lot of risks I believe, but I think we will be at the loss for it. Why not try to cross that line as if we were truly racing for that crown Paul talks about in 1 Cor. 9? Would you not give it your all instead of just walking across? I think you would.
Friend. I’m proud of you. You took a risk. May we all learn from your example!
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