The Big Risk

Reflections, Risk Taking, and Leaving a Legacy

            Recently I had the opportunity to hear Tony Campolo speak on several different occasions at my home church in Rutherfordton, N.C.  It was a great opportunity to hear one of the leading Christian speakers preach from the pulpit where so much of my early spiritual development occurred.  As I reflect on all of the things he said, one thing stands out above the others. 

As a professor of sociology at Eastern University, Campolo is quite familiar with surveys.  He quoted one of particular relevance in which 95 people over the age of 95 were interviewed.  They were asked one simple question: if you had to live your life over again, what would you do differently?  Without fail, the responses came back into three major categories.  They said that we would take more time to reflect, we would take more risks, and we would take more steps to ensure that our legacy lived on after we passed away.  Sounds simple enough, right?  Campolo went on to suggest that all three of these tasks can (and should) be lived out by being followers of Christ.  The one that hit me the hardest was about risk taking. 

By most accounts, Jesus was a risk taker.  In fact, his entire life was a risk.  He risked the comfort of communion with God in order to commune with humanity.  He risked his earthly family and home in order to spread the message of the Kingdom.  He risked his life by submitting to the will of God.  He risked the comfort of popularity by hanging out with those who were the least and the lost.  He challenged his disciples to risk losing their careers in order to follow him.  He challenged the rich, the righteous, and the religious to risk losing their lives if they wanted to inherit eternal life. 

To say that I am being convicted by this would be an understatement.  What am I risking in order that God’s Kingdom might reign?  This is not a call to live irresponsibly, but instead a call to challenge a safe and secure lifestyle.  Loving the unvloveable is a risky endeavor.  Feeding the hungry and clothing the naked requires some amount of risk-taking.  Sharing God’s love with a world that is far from God is challenging.  Are we pushing ourselves closer to a risky lifestyle or are we satisfied with being comfortable? 

Ben (bcarson@guilfordcollegeumc.org)