Submission by Dr. Glenn Mollette

Risk is a part of everyday life.

A drive to the grocery store is risky. Sitting in your recliner too long is risky. Eating too much is risky. Eating too little is risky. Driving too fast is risky, and driving too slowly can be risky in certain situations.

Moving to another town for employment has risks. Staying put in your same location could be risky. Changing careers is risky. Staying in the same career for the rest of your life might present a different set of risks.

If you put your money in the bank to gain interest, there are risks. If you dig a hole and put your money in the hole, then there is no risk, but there is also no gain.

The only way to have gain in life is with some risk. I am not talking about crazy stuff. I am not talking about wagering your paycheck in a card game at a casino. I am not talking about betting your life savings on a ballgame or a horse race. People who do stuff like that are crazy. The odds are greatly against winning and greatly in favor of losing.

Yet there are many risks in life. You don’t know for sure when you marry someone how it is going to work out. You take the risk. You go forward believing in faith. When you take a job, you enter into the arena of risk. You hope the job will be good. You go to work every day in return for an honest day’s pay. You trust it will become better and even pay more as you work hard and do your best.

When you buy a car, there is risk. You are spending a lot of money in hopes that the car will function and meet your travel needs. Hopefully, you will be satisfied, but there are occasions when you will not be happy with the performance of the car. We buy in faith that it will live up to our expectations and what has been promised.

You have no guarantees when you buy stock that you are going to make money. You have to look at the past performance of the stock. You have to look at how much money is already invested in the stock. Sometimes people buy stock because they believe in the company. Costco, Tesla, General Motors or another company may garner your support because of your interest in their products. Yet, with any stock, you never know for sure how it will go.

In Matthew chapter 25, Jesus told the story about talents, or bags of gold. Two servants took the risk of investing their master’s money and doubled it. The third servant dug a hole and hid the money entrusted to him in the ground. When the master later returned and asked for an accounting, the third servant had to admit he had done nothing. His master called him lazy, wicked and worthless. The master took the man’s talent from him and gave it to one of the other servants who had done something with his talents.

If you don’t use it, you will lose it. Keep stepping out on faith. Make good decisions. Think about it, pray, analyze and contemplate, but then move forward. Doing nothing results in nothing. You have not if you try not.

Dr. Mollette is the author of a new book titled Rambling Man With A Shaky Hand, available via Kindle, Amazon hardcover and other booksellers.

 

Feature photo: Keener, Jo L., CC0, via Wikimedia Commons