No Risk…no reward.
Taking a risk carries consequences. When you meet with your financial advisor, many have a “risk tolerance” survey that asks you to determine what type of financial roller coaster you can tolerate. Some take a high risk portfolio that allows the ups and downs to be much steeper. Others take a low risk portfolio that mitigates the down hills, but the up side is not as steep either.
Every risk has a potential for loss. But usually eventually a risk brings a reward greater than if one hadn’t taken the risk.
Elisha Otis took a risk. If his contraption failed at the World’s Fair in New York, his fledgling company would have been out of business. However, he was willing to take the risk and it paid off. The Otis Elevator Company is still in business world-wide today.
The same is true in our life of faith.
We can play it safe. We can keep our faith to ourselves and rarely have conflict or challenging conversations with people. We can talk about it at home and keep it private in other places.
But with low risk, there is little opportunity for reward.
When the Word remains silent, the opportunity for the Spirit to do big things diminishes.
For example, the disciples huddled together for 10 days after Jesus left the earth (to be fair, they were told to do this). They had kept to themselves and a few interactions with Jesus after the resurrection. You don’t hear of new converts, but you hear of a small group just over 100 staying together in Jerusalem. You hear of their aversion to risk as they stayed locked up for fear of the Jews.
Until the Spirit of God empowered them to take a risk, a calculated step of faith.
Peter, who denied Jesus 50 days earlier, stands up and addresses the crowd with clarity and conviction. The same people that crucified Jesus were there. They could have turned on him. But the risk of speaking up was rewarded by 3000 gifts of God’s grace…3000 hearts were changed and brought into the family of God through baptism.
But it didn’t stop there.
The boldness and result of the one risk turned into a willingness to daily take a risk by meeting in the temple courts, openly discussing and proclaiming the truth of Jesus. Again, the hostility against Jesus hadn’t fully evaporated. It was still very real. But the risk taken turned into a reward given.
Acts 2:46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Daily the Lord added a reward of grace because of the believer’s willingness to take a risk for the Lord.
It’s not always safe. It’s not always easy. But the risks we take for the Lord return with gracious rewards of grace. Take a risk…see how the Lord rewards it!
Apply: What risk for the Lord has been on your heart? Ask the Spirit of God for boldness to act on it!
Prayer: Lord, forgive me for when I play it safe with my faith for fear of repercussions. Grant me the power of your Spirit to take risks of faith to be turned into rewards of grace for the growth of your kingdom and the glory of your name. AMEN.