Taking a risk for God

On Friday night, Graham delivered his message, "The Wise Risk," to more than 5,000 high school students and leaders here at Purdue University. It was a powerful message that exhorted all who heard to take the "wise risk" on Jesus, and let him direct our lives.

That may not sound too controversial to most Christians, but it should be. One of my favorite things that Donald Miller talks about in his new book is the fact that most Christians see their conversion moment as the pinnacle and end of their journey. It's not; it's just a step in the process. That's what I thought about as Graham was speaking on Friday night.

There is an old DC Talk song called "What Have We Become." The song speaks to the progressively lost experience that we experience as a culture. Though the song's more than a decade old, the words are just as true today as then. The chorus says:

What have we become?
A self indulgent people
What have we become?
Tell me where are the righteous ones?
What have we become?
In a world degenerating
What have we become?

I think the idea is that, while the world continues to fall apart around us, what are we doing to make a difference. Jesus didn't come to Earth and spend his time debating theology with the religious elite. Rather, he went out and spread the Gospel everywhere, risking his life literally to reach the lost. In a lot of ways, the world has never been more lost. So I guess the question is, what are we doing about it.

I wish I had an attitude more like that featured in the Linkin Park song "Hands Held High." In that song, Mike Schinoda says, "Risk something, take back what's yours. Say something that you know they might attack you for." Now he's talking about a liberal political idea that we might not agree with, but the idea that we need to risk, that we need to stand up against the tide of popular opinion is dead on.

I pray that each of those in the audience Friday night and all of us who are Christians would be unafraid to take a risk to reach those in need with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

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