Life will not make sense to us until we embrace risk as a central theme of our lives. For the most part, I think Americans like to play it safe. We love formulas that can help us to scientifically break down the difficulties of life into the simplest of possibilities. This is why infomercials are such a huge success. We want someone to give us the forumula to the easy way out. We want to avoid as much pain or discomfort as we can along our journeys through life. We want to apply time-tested principles to our lives that will help us to "be a better me." We'll even pay lots of money to people who are willing to help us get to those lofty levels of success. Everyone can be a millionaire if they would only work hard at applying the right formulas and principles.
The sad part of playing it safe is that life will not make sense until we decide to risk. Love requires risk. Most of the great joys that can be found in life require taking risks. Of course, risk sometimes leads to failure. That's OK. People will ridicule you when you fail. "See, they should have played it safe." But, the people who play it safe never get to experience the joy in life that comes with taking a risk and watching how God comes through for us. When we play it safe, we communicate to God that we do not really need him. When we embrace risk, we communicate to God that we desperately need him to come through for us. God is a rescuer. Things may not turn out exactly as we had planned in our minds, but God is always in control. We can trust him to come through for us.
Julie and I have been talking a lot lately about the joys we have experienced over our married lives together because we have embraced risk. Yes, there have been times when we've fallen flat on our faces by the world's standards. But, we've also experienced amazing things that most people do not get to experience. There is great joy to be found in serving others, and in living life on the edge. I know that our lifestyle does not look like most of our peers. We do not have a McMansion in the suburbs. We are not upwardly mobile, trying to advance ourselves so that we can lead a more comfortable life. We receive uninvited guests on a daily basis. Sinners dine at our table on a regular basis. I think that Jesus modeled for us that we should all embrace risk as a central theme of our lives. He did not play it safe, and the world has been forever transformed because of the risks he took. That's enough inspiration to keep Julie and I going.
2 comments:
what if God calls a person to risk it in the suburbs? is this still risk according to your definition?
Everyone risks to one degree or another, whether they choose to live in an urban, suburban, small town, or rural environment. In the last paragraph of my post, I was trying to give an example of how Julie and I embraced risk by moving our family to the city. Prior to that move, both of us had lived our entire lives in suburban or small town environments (with our parents growing up and by choice as adults). We know the suburbs well, so I know that at different points in our lives we embraced risk within the suburban context as well. The city is not any better or worse than the suburbs... they are just different places where different levels of risk are involved.
I do think that a lot of the suburban lifestyle message that is marketed to mostly middle class or affluent Americans is a message of embracing safety and removing risk. The general message is often that the schools are better, the streets are safer, the real estate has better chances to increase in value, the crime rate is lower, etc. This statement does not mean that there is not risk in living in the suburbs. I think parents who send their kids to affluent suburban districts in Pittsburgh are taking just as big a risk with their kids as I am by sending mine to an underperforming urban school district. So, yes, I think God can and does call people to risk in the suburbs... the homogenous suburban school district environment being one of those risks. My kids hear gun shots at night sometimes. That's also a risk. Is one risk greater than the other?
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