“Fear not for I AM with you; be not dismayed for I AM your God.”
- Isaiah 41:10
I’ve been learning more and more about myself as an evangeleader and one of the challenges I face is my own aversion towards risk. It is something I’ve had to face in the mirror, question, and manage in order to get where I am today. Ever since I started pursuing my true calling in 2000, it has been a journey of making decisions that require me to embrace risk.
Risk is defined as “exposure to the chance of injury or loss.” Certain decisions may expose us to a loss of money, respect, image, comfort, stability, riches, or even bodily health. When we fly, we are exposed to the possibility of crashing into the open sea. When we eat, we’re exposed to the chance of food poisoning, but most of us do these things without thinking much about the risk involved. Why?
Well, for one, we see the great benefit of eating and flying. In my case, if I don’t eat, I’ll disappear…so it is not an option for me :) I also highly doubt anyone wants to sail across the sea or drive to every work assignment that is several states away. We take on risk because of the overwhelming benefit.
Also note that we take on the risk of everyday decisions because somehow we have already estimated the possibility of experiencing loss or injury. We fly on vacation because we doubt anything would really happen. The possibility of injury or loss is very low. There are no equations or statistics running through our minds, we simply move forward because past experience and our observations give us a feeling of comfort.
As an Evangeleader, the ability to embrace risk is going to be a huge part of your success. Decisions to follow a career path, move across the country, take a new promotion, start a small business, or enter the mission field cannot be made without embracing risk. If we live in fear of the risks involved in life, it will be very difficult to fulfill our calling and glorify God at our maximum potential.
Before you opt out of your next decision because of the risk involved, consider these 3 key points:
1. First, what is the potential benefit of embracing the risk?
2. Second, think about your past experiences with God. Has he demonstrated a pattern of letting you down? Probably not. If so, you have to question whether your decisions were outside of His will.
3. Third, before you run towards your comfort zone, what do you observe in the lives of other men and women of faith. Has God let them down when they made a Godly and Risky decision?
Past experience should tell you that God delivers big time and observing God’s hand in the lives of others will just reinforce that fact. Remember, the Evangeleader is not just a leader in society. We’re leaders that walk with the Author and Finisher of our faith. Learn to embrace risk, because the benefits could be beyond your imagination.
Pop the Culture,
Bro. Wize
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Embracing Risk
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3 comments:
Amen, Brotha!! ;)
I also think that another reason why people avoid risk is because of their gender. I, being a girl, its hard sometimes to step out of the norm of what "society" or "the community" says i should be doing. Being 23 years old, my parents, my church, and my family might be pressuring me into doing things that are soo of the norm of what a girl my age is supposed to do. So going outside of that is a huge risk. It ultimately comes down to "am i listening to what God wants me to do?" It's sometimes hard to listen to what God wants me to do, when the voice of everyone else around me is louder and more overbearing.
I couldn't agree more...and to your point, there is a big difference between a calculated risk (one where God is in the midst) and a throw it to the wind risk.
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