One risk we should make in this life is to make other people glad in Christ. However, when we have grudges against people, have prejudices, and/or have unforgiveness in our heart, it is impossible to make others glad in God. We must first make things right with God and with people before we can reconcile them back into a right relationship with God through Jesus Christ. "God's forgiveness ... gives us God" (Page 100)
"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." - Ephesians 4:32
Piper quoted Robert Murray M'Cheyne, a pastor from Scottland, as saying that many in the church "are not Christians, because they do not love to give." He said that one's willingness to give and forgive is the evidence that one is indeed a Christian.
As much as we should strive to make people glad in God, we cannot force this on anyone. Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, it is a gift from God that we receive through His grace. God does, however, use us to bring other people this joy.
Share the love of Christ with someone today, make things right with those you may have aught with, sacrifice your time, money and energy, and make someone glad in God.
"Why is there such a thing as risk? Because there is such a thing as ignorance. If there were no ignorance there would be no risk. Risk is possible because we don’t know how things will turn out." - Page 80
What is risk? After reading this chapter I started to evaluate myself to see if I was a risk taker. Taking risks requires faith. Not knowing the outcome of an action often induces fear - which is the opposite of faith. I began to see that my lack of risk taking was a result of my lack of faith and ultimately the presence of fear. As Christians we are to walk by faith, not by sight, for what we see is temporal while what we do not see is eternal. The only thing of value to us as believers are eternal things.
God "...knows the outcome of all his actions before they happen, he plans accordingly. His omniscience rules out the very possibility of taking risks." - Page 80
As Piper pointed out above, it is impossible for God to take risks. This is the case because He knows all things.
We, however, take risks every day whether we realize it or not. So many times as Christians we take risks for carnal things, yet refuse to take risks for the eternal things of Christ. There is no real security in this life outside of Jesus Christ. This is why we should put our trust in Christ alone, just as Joab did when he made the decision to trust God while the Israelites were surrounded by the Amalekite and Syrian armies. He encouraged the Israeli troops to fear not, exclaiming: "May the LORD do what seems good to him” (2 Samuel 10:12). Queen Esther also exhibited her trust in God when she faced the possibility of death by approaching the King on his throne without being called for the sake of her people the Jews. Her attitude was "If I perish, I perish." (Esther 4:16) Another example is Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The Jewish people were in exile in Babylon, and King Nebuchadnezzar threatened them, saying that if they did not bow down to his golden idol that they would be thrown in to a fiery furnace. The response of the three Hebrew boys was: “We believe our God will deliver us. But even if he doesn’t, we will not serve your gods.” (Daniel 3:16-18) In all three cases, God delivered His people because of a risky decision of a few who decided to place their trust in God's omniscient will.
The Apostle Paul is another example of a risk taker. Where ever he went he faced uncertainty, yet one thing was certain - that he would endure persecution for the name of Christ. Piper writes that "He [Paul] had two choices: waste his life or live with risk." Paul chose the latter, and left a heroic example for all to follow.
Pastor John noted that it is important as a Christian to take risks for the right reasons because "we might become so fixated on self-denial that we are unable to enjoy the proper pleasures of this life that God has given for our good" or "we might be drawn to a life of risk for self-exalting reasons." The risks that we take should be done by faith in Christ with no alterior motives.
Our trust in Jesus Christ should be the all-empowering factor to every risk that we take in this life. For even if your risk results in suffering or death of your mortal body, the promise is clear: To suffer is to reign, and to die is to gain.
