In today’s professional world, risk management is a key component of leadership. Whether in finance or real estate or technology or any number of other businesses, determining the level of risk you face in a given circumstance, deal or venture is a key factor in making sound decisions. Many leaders step back when something is too risky. Others tout the fact they are successful because they are willing to take big risks. Whether you are successful by risking it all, or by being risk-averse, both paths are considered valid.
Jerome Lederer was an aviation safety expert. During World War II he trained 10,000 airmen and 35,000 mechanics and saved many lives during the war with his safety procedures for air transport. These procedures were later adopted in civil aviation. In 1967 after the Apollo 1 fire that killed three astronauts, he was appointed as safety director for all of NASA. He said, “Risk management is a more realistic term than safety. It implies that hazards are ever-present, that they must be identified, analyzed, evaluated and controlled or rationally accepted.”[1] Lederer understood that risk could not be avoided. Rather, it was something to be studied and then accepted based on a clearer understanding.
When Lindberg attempted to cross the Atlantic in the Spirit of St. Louis airplane, most thought he would not make it. To build confidence in the mission, he asked his good friend and aviation safety expert Jerome Lederer to come and inspect the aircraft before he took off.
The Apostle Paul wrote about risk in his epistles. Risk is an action that exposes you to the possibility of injury or loss. When we live by and share our faith, it is risky. We risk persecution, as the early members of the church did, by those against the faith. We risk rejection by friends, coworkers and family, who ultimately reject not us but the Gospel message itself. And we risk failure or negative consequences in life and work because we choose to stand up for our faith-centered beliefs. In a risk-managed society, we might ask, “Is it worth the risk?”
We should take risks. In the New Testament we don’t see teaching about managing or minimizing risk. On the contrary, a key message is the God wants us to take risks with our resources and our lives for the cause of Christ. Because we know God’s ultimate plan, and have the assurance of His support in the pursuit of goals that align with the Gospel, we should move with assurance, knowing that the risks are worth it. John Piper writes, “You don’t have to be a big great person in order for God to use you to do extraordinary things for him. But you do need to take risks.”[2] Paul himself took risks. He put himself in harm’s way over and over again. We read of Paul escaping out of Damascus in a basket. We read of Paul being whisked out of town in Thessalonica because a mob is forming.
God never risks. Essential to risking something is acting when you don’t know the outcome. You have to lack some knowledge in order to take a risk, and God lacks no knowledge. God Himself is incapable of risk. Think about that for a moment: He always knows what is coming and what is coming is always in the scope of His ultimate will. Because we serve the God who never risks, we can trust Him and we can take on risk in His name. What confidence we can have in stepping out in what looks like risk to us, if we are following One who always knows the outcome!
Risk is transitory. When we take risks in a spiritual sense, we may fail. We might be rejected, or in today’s culture even “cancelled”. We might find that business success eludes us. Following God is risky because we do not know the outcome and that outcome may not be what we want and may not put us in the position we desire. Scripture indicates that God wants us to live risky lives, and to move forward not knowing the outcome. In this passage from Ecclesiastes, the writer talks about living life, doing our work, venturing out, and accepting the risks:
“Ship your grain across the sea; after many days you may receive a return. Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight; you do not know what disaster may come upon the land. If clouds are full of water, they pour rain on the earth. Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there it will lie. Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap. As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things. Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.” —Ecclesiastes 11:1-6
How then do we live and work when faced with the unknown? God has a clear answer for us here as well. We don’t stop risking. Rather, we trust and we pray. Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
We can trust God in this because the risk is transitory. If we have an eternal destination with God (heaven), then this life is an infinitesimal dot on the timeline of our existence. Anything we risk now matters little in light of this truth. What we perceive as risk is a tiny life lesson which should only serve to grow our trust in and dependence on God in all situations. So take the risk!
Mark Maynard