There is a huge difference between “no risk” and calculated risk. When you were a kid and you wanted to do something that seemed risky, what did you tell your parents? “It isn’t dangerous!” Right? But the truth was, you probably just didn’t think through everything that could go wrong. It is called calculating risk, and as we get older and wiser, we tend to get better at it.
But what if we never learn how to properly assess risk? Saying there is “no danger” doesn’t make it true. Everything has some element of danger. But there are always those who refuse to admit the danger. For example, three daredevils were recently caught after doing a base jump off the new One World Trade tower in Manhattan. Their defense? There was “no danger” in what they did!
Despite their plea, they were criminally charged Tuesday with burglary, reckless endangerment (themselves and others), and jumping from a structure. Most sane people would agree that jumping from a 1,776-foot skyscraper involves serious (and potentially unseen) risk. Any number of things could have happened, ending their thrill-seeking night in tragedy. But they have become desensitized to the risks.
Danger is real, very real. And quite often, the risks are greater than we think. New York City police commissioner Bill Bratton charged the men, saying, “These men violated the law and placed themselves, as well as others, in danger,” adding, “being a thrill-seeker does not give immunity from the law.”
Many people are taking the biggest risk possible, every day. If you aren’t a faithful child of God, then each day is riskier than a 1,776 foot base jump…without the parachute!
Have you calculated the risk of eternal separation from God? Have you become desensitized to the danger? Or do you think there is “no danger?” Thrill seekers aren’t immune to the law and neither are we. The law demands death for our sins (Romans 6:23). The danger is real, but the risk can be removed. Live faithfully in Him, and know that you have eternal life in Christ (1 John 5:13).
