Risk

… but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant… Philippians 2:7

I have always been struck by this passage about Jesus’ claim of right to be considered equal with God the Father but at the same time giving up all rights to his own reputation. Jesus, by almost every account we have of almost everything he did, was very reckless with his own reputation. And yet, it seems to me, that in every tradition of those who have organized into groups of his followers, the reputation of the group and the individuals making it up is almost always of paramount importance. This extends to God himself. It’s as if it is our job to protect the reputation of the omnipotent, creator God. As if he needs our help with that.

Taking a big step back and looking at how the Bible instructs me to live, and the examples of many of our heroes of the faith chronicled therein, a great deal has to do with risk. Of doing the right thing no matter what. Of laying down life in order to gain it.

Last week on the website www.sliceoflaodicea.com in re: to the flap over Chad Allen playing the parts of Nate Saint and Steve Saint in the movie “End of the Spear,” a commenter put something into perspective for me. I tried to find it again to link to it for you but wasn’t able to dig it out. She said something like, “it’s terrible that for the sake of one gay activist this movie was ruined for me and people like me.” I commented back asking this person to listen to herself. She was saying that her movie going enjoyment was more important than the eternal soul of one gay activist. The irony bowled me over. She was talking about a movie involving five men who thought their own lives were not more important than a few hateful, murdering, bottom-of-the-barrel, low-life jungle savages nobody cared about. But it’s a shame a movie was ruined for her. BTW, my comment was censored out.

Think about the risk here. The son of one of those martyrs risked his own reputation to go with the decision to use Chad based on the relationship that had developed along with the fact that he had the best look and abilities to play the part. Steve literally wrote the book about taking risks with one’s life and waiting until God writes the final chapter to judge results. Read “End of the Spear,” the book, and learn what risking everything you have for the sake of eternity is all about.

Some will counter that one should never take the risk of "watering down the gospel" or using anything but a full-on frontal approach to sharing God's redemptive plan for humanity. Well, here is a take on another burr-under-the-saddle risk taker who uttered those "compromising" words, "I am made all things to all men that I might by all means save some."