- Morning Devotional
- January 22, 2004
- "Risky Business"
- by Don Emmitte
What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what
we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see.
God gave his approval to people in days of old because of their faith. By faith
we understand that the entire universe was formed at God's command, that what we
now see did not come from anything that can be seen.
(Hebrews 11:1-3 NLT).
To have hope you must have faith. Faith forces us to
take risks. To have hope you must take action. To have any outcome
worthwhile you must take risks. When you really think about it, our every action
is at risk because there aren’t any guarantees. What I’ve learned is that
the more risks you take, no matter how small, you’ll accumulate enough faith
in yourself to plow through most challenges life offers every single day!
You may be thinking that you are not a risk-taker.
Okay. Let’s talk about risk. You will risk an awful lot to act on the things
that are most important to you. If someone you love were drowning, you might
risk your life to save him or her. Or if you believe strongly in justice, you
might risk ridicule to stand up for someone who is being treated unfairly. All
risks, reaching out, testing yourself, trying new things, accepting challenges,
involve putting your values on the line. Sometimes the greatest risk may not be
climbing the steepest mountain or sailing around the world, alone. It may be
more risky to tell someone you care about that you are lonely, or to say,
“I’m sorry.” There are many kinds of risks in life, emotional,
intellectual and physical. The important ones are those that help you grow
and express your values.
The following examples I’ve compiled are risks we
should learn to take in order to challenge ourselves and discover who we really
are. For example:
Ø
To laugh is to risk appearing the fool. (So what!)
Ø
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental. (Do it anyway!)
Ø
To reach out for another is to risk involvement. (Go for it!)
Ø
To expose feelings is to risk rejection. (Know where you stand!)
Ø
To place your dreams before the crowd is to risk ridicule. (Who
cares? Its’ your life!)
Ø
To love is to risk not being loved in return. (Its’ a two way
street!)
Ø
To live is to risk dying. (Its’ inevitable!)
Ø
To go forward in the face of overwhelming odds is to risk failure.
(Can you imagine if all the great leaders
didn’t?)