Taking Risks
From the Series—Chase the Lion
December 6, 2006This evotional continues our series Chase the Lion.
The series is based on the book In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. You can purchase a copy online at amazon.com. Or download a free PDF of the first chapter at chasethelion.com.
During this series, we’re exploring seven lion chasing skills: defying odds, facing fears, overcoming adversity, embracing uncertainty, taking risks, seizing opportunities, and looking foolish.
The Domino Effect
On October 31st, 1517, a monk named Martin Luther walked up to the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany and posted a piece of paper on the church doors. His 95 theses attack the practice of indulgences--the selling of forgiveness by the church. Luther was put on trial. He was excommunicated from the church. But that one act of courage had a domino effect—it ignited the Protestant Reformation. On April 18th, 1945, a factory owner named Oskar Schindler had a list of 1097 names manually typed—297 women and 800 men. He rescued them from Nazi Concentration Camps. Schindler lost everything. He died broke. But that one act of courage had a domino effect—a half-century later, there are more than 6,000 descendants of the Schindlerjuden.
On December 1st, 1951, a seamstress named Rosa Parks got on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Segregation laws required black passengers to give up their seat for white passengers. Rosa Parks refused to do it. She was arrested. She lost her job. But that one act of courage had a domino effect--it inspired a citywide boycott and a court battle. Within two years, bus segregation was ruled unconstitutional.
I’m neither a historian nor the son of a historian, but let me make an observation: it is small acts of courage that change the course of history. Someone takes a risk and it has a domino effect.
Now here’s the thing. We think about people like Martin Luther and Oscar Schindler and Rosa Parks in heroic terms. But they didn’t know they were making history when they were making history! They were just ordinary people taking risks! But when you take a risk you never know what kind of domino effect it is going to have.
During the Chase the Lion series we’re looking at one of the most courageous acts recorded in Scripture. An ancient warrior named Benaiah chased a lion into a pit on a snowy day and killed it.
Scripture goes on to list his military achievements and they are pretty impressive. He was one of the most decorated and celebrated warriors in Israel’s history. He was the captain of King David’s bodyguard. He was one of David’s thirty mighty men. In fact, Scripture says he was more honored than the other thirty. And Benaiah goes on to become Commander-in-Chief of Israel’s army.
But the genealogy of success can always be traced back to the risks we take. II Samuel 23 records three dominos. Benaiah took on two Moabites despite being outnumbered; he chased a lion despite snowy conditions; and he fought an Egyptian despite the fact that he was out armed. And those three risks had a domino effect.
As I reflect on my own life, I realize that most of the good things that have happened are the byproduct of a few risks. And the bigger the risks the bigger the rewards!
Buried Talent
Let me try to put risk in biblical context. We don’t tend to think of risk in spiritual terms, but risk is one dimension of righteousness.
In Matthew 25, Jesus describes the Kingdom of Heaven in terms of risk.
Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
If you really want to appreciate this parable you’ve got to realize that one talent was the ancient equivalent of twenty years of a day laborer’s salary. I don’t know about you, but if someone gives me a hundred years wages I don’t know if I ever take another risk. I’ve got enough money to last the rest of my life. You know what I’m saying? It had to tempting to play it safe. He had more to lose! But he also had more to gain!
Verse 19-21
After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’ His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
Now let me stop right there and give you a biblical definition of faithfulness. Faithfulness is risk and risk is faithfulness. I think we tend to think of faithfulness in maintenance terms. Faithfulness is holding the fort. Faithfulness is maintaining the status quo. Faithfulness is hanging on to what you have. And nothing could be further from the truth. Faithfulness is ROI—return on investment. Faithfulness is multiplying what you have to the best of your God-given ability. Faithfulness isn’t minimizing risk. Faithfulness is maximizing risk because maximizing risk is maximizing reward.
I’m concerned that too many of us have a savings mindset—we want to keep what we have. We’re playing not to lose. And the parable of the talents is all about an investment mindset—risking what you have to get more. It’s playing to win.
Verse 24-30
Then the man who had received the one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. ‘Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
These are some of the harshest words in the gospels, and the servant broke even. Evidently, breaking even isn’t good enough. In the context of this parable, wickedness is burying your talent in the ground. And it is the byproduct of focusing on action regrets instead of inaction regrets. The wicked servant was afraid that he might lose what he had.
Stock Options
I have a friend, Lee McFarland, who pastors one of the fastest growing churches in America—Radiant Church in Surprise, AZ.
Lee was working for Microsoft a decade ago making six-digits. He also had 16,000 stock options valued at several million dollars. In financial terms, he had it made. And then he started to sense that God was calling him to plant a church. To make a long story short, my friend gave up his six-digit salary and 16,000 stock options to plant the church he now pastors. His starting salary was $26,000. Small pay cut! But I love the prayer he prayed when he quit Microsoft. He asked God to give him one soul for every share of stock he gave up! God is well on his way to answering that prayer! A few months ago, I watched one of their baptism videos and it was incredible. I watched hundreds of people getting baptized at a water park the church rented. As I watched those people getting baptized, I couldn’t help but think about the immeasurable value of a single soul. Certainly a single soul is worth more than 16,000 stock options in Microsoft. In fact, Jesus said a single soul is worth more than the cumulative wealth of the entire world. Then I started thinking about their relational networks. I started thinking about the generational impact their spiritual transformation will have. And here’s the thing: all of that impact traces back to one risk. One risk had a domino effect that isn’t just changing history. It’s changing eternity! We need a paradigm shift. I think we need to see ourselves as shareholders in the Kingdom of God. And we need to realize that every investment we make earns shares that earn eternal dividends. I’ve always been intrigued by Philippians 4:17. Paul is thanking the Philippians for their investment in his ministry. He says, “Not that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account.” Evidently, when we invest in the Kingdom, there is a wire transfer to an offshore bank account—way offshore! We have a heavenly account that gets credited any time we do anything for God. So Lee may have given up 16,000 stock options in Microsoft, but he has some serious stock options in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Not a bad trade!
Play Offense
A few months ago I read a fascinating story about Ted Leonsis, the owner of the Washington Capitals. Let me pull a Paul Harvey and tell you the story behind the story.
Leonsis made his fortune as an executive at AOL. And he is a highly regarded as an entrepreneur and philanthropist. But if you want to really appreciate who he is and how he got there, you have to hit the rewind button and go back to an incident that happened in 1983. Ted Leonsis was only twenty-five years old. He was on an Eastern Airlines flight that lost its ability to use its wing flaps and landing gear. The flight attendants cleared the overhead bins; shifted passengers; and gave them a crash course in crash landings. And Ted Leonsis said he began to think about what he would do if he survived. He said, “I promised myself that if I didn’t die, I’d play offense for the rest of my life.” Leonsis survived the landing and compiled a list of 101 things to do. To date, he has accomplished 74 of those 101 things. He came up with categories like family matters, financial matters, travel and charities. And he started setting goals. Here are some of the goals he has accomplished to date:
1.) Fall in love and get married
14.) Net worth of $100 million, after taxes
22.) Create the world’s largest media company
24.) Own a jet
35.) Give $1 million to Georgetown University
37.) Start a family foundation
40.) Own a sports franchise
83.) Produce a TV show
86.) Invent a Board Game
92.) Hold Elective Office
I love those life goals. But what I love even more is the motivation behind them. Leonsis has a simple mission statement: play offense with your life.
Satan wants to put us in a defensive posture. And he uses two primary tactics—fear and discouragement. He wants us to run away from fear, uncertainty, and risk. But Christ calls us to chase lions. Satan would love nothing more than for our ultimate goal to be not to sin. But doing nothing wrong doesn’t constitute doing something right. Goodness is not the absence of badness!
Inaction Regrets
In his book, If Only, psychologist Dr. Neil Roese makes a distinction between two different types of regret: regrets of action and regrets of inaction. A regret of action is doing something you wish you hadn’t done. A regret of inaction is not doing something that you wish you had done. Let me put it in theological terms. Actions regrets are the result of sins of commission. Inaction regrets are the result of sins of omission.
I think the church has fixated on sins of commission long enough. They are easier to quantify. But the greatest regrets at the end of our lives won’t be the things we did wrong. It will be not doing the right things—things we could have, should have, and would have done.
Action regrets taste bad, but inaction regrets leave a bitter aftertaste that lasts a lifetime. Inaction regrets haunt us because they leave us asking what if. We are left to wonder how our lives would have been different had we taken the risk or seized the opportunity. What if we had chased the lion instead of running away? Somehow our lives seem incomplete. Failing to take a risk is almost like losing a piece of the jigsaw puzzle to your life. It leaves a gaping hole. When we get to the end of our lives, our greatest regrets will be the missing pieces.
That conviction is backed up by the research of two social psychologists named Tom Gilovich and Vicki Medvec. Their research found that time is a key factor in what we regret. Over the short term, we tend to regret our actions. But over the long haul, we tend to regret inactions. Their study found that over the course of an average week, action regrets outnumber inaction regrets 53% to 47%. But when people look at their lives as a whole, inaction regrets outnumber action regrets 84% to 16%.
In other words, our greatest regret at the end of our lives will be the lions we didn’t chase!
Chase the lion.