Risk Taking

Prov. 13:⁴ “The soul of a lazy man desires, and has nothing;
But the soul of the diligent shall be made rich” [NKJV, with emphasis]

Jesus is a Master of story telling. In Matthew 25, Jesus tells us the story of a master that gave money to three of his servants while he was travelling. Two of the servants took a risk, invested the money and made more. The third servant was afraid of failing, so he did nothing. Matt.25:^25-26 “…I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground . . . His master replied, `You wicked, lazy servant!’” [with emphasis]. The master responded with strong but instructive words. When we do not push the envelop of our lives, God sees us as wicked and lazy. When we cave in because of the fear of failing, God says wicked and lazy.

If only we will see as God sees. The bold step some people need to take is in the area of parenting. Be firm and parent your children properly. Your child may not like you now but believe me that child will be totally grateful later. For some, the bold step you need to take is to love your spouse. Just do it because God says so. Will he or she take you for granted? Well probably, but that should not be your focus. 1 Cor. 13:⁸ “Love never fails.”

Though the master’s words were strong, God is teaching us that we cannot please God by playing it safe in any area of our lives. Without faith, without risk taking, it is impossible to please God. Playing it safe will not work instead choose to trust God. We are going to learn six things over the next few days that will equip us to banish the fear of failure.

The first thing we must do to banish the fear of failure is Remember Everyone Fails. Knowing that everyone fails will set you free from the fear of failing. I can tell you stories of times that I have failed or things that I did that failed. But it is not obvious because I get up very quickly and I try another thing. The problem is we stay down for too long. Do you know that you can actually fall in style? But do not stay down when you fall – get up! A research showed that human beings have a hundred percent failure rate. In other words, there is no single perfect human being. Even God’s Word states this truth clearly in  Rom.3:²³ “for ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” [NKJV, with emphasis]

Prayer: Heavenly Father, help me to see as God sees in every situation, in Jesus Name. Amen!