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The board game, RISK, affords a great evening of fun, strategy, and entertainment You play and take risks, but the risks are not real. Ife is different.
There are always two roads to life. Similar to a binary system that drives a computer, we are constantly coming to one crossroads or another. The roads and choices have many expressions and characteristics, but I want to focus today on one dimension of choice: Playing it safe or risking everything.
Most people agree that “stupid risks,” those made in a stupor of pleasure seeking irrationality, are worthless and possibly evil. That is because they have no meaning, purpose, or long-term advantage.
Risking what is not yours to risk is likewise beyond any redemptive purpose. There is no honor is taking three drinks, getting in a car without buckling one’s seat belt, and driving 110 miles per hour down the road against oncoming traffic.
That is a risk, but not a worthy one.
There are no monuments to men who caused multiple fatalities in 100 car pile-ups because they were brave enough to take a risk.
When Jesus says that we must deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Him, He is calling us to live sacrificially, redemptively, and adventurously for a purpose.
That is why He so strongly utters these words in Matthew 16:24-26 (NIV):
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?"
We can gain life by offering it a a living sacrifice for a greater cause, but we always lose life by clinging to it at the cost of all else of value.
William Barclay said, “The man who plays for safety loses life.”
There was a very
cautious manWho never laughed or
played,’He never risked, he
never tried.He never sang or prayed.
And when he one day
passed away,His insurance was
denied.For since he never
really livedThey claimed he
never died.- William Barclay (attributed)
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