It's About Putting Yourself at Risk

It’s about Putting Yourself at Risk

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly . . . who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who have never known neither victory nor defeat.

— Teddy Roosevelt

No guts. No glory.

I’m convinced that when I get to heaven and come face-to-face with my Creator, there’s going to be a final exam, and as I visualize it, two questions will sum up the part of my life lived on earth: (1) “What did you do about Jesus?” and (2) “What did you do with what I gave you to work with?” One question about belief and one question about action—not action in lieu of belief (the old word is “works”) but action that grows out of belief. It’s both/and not either/or.

I quarrel with a timid form of Christianity made up exclusively of piety and attendance at ritual events. Fifteen years ago, I spent the entire Christmas holidays studying the parables, those powerful stories Jesus told to illustrate the nature of his kingdom. Peter Drucker told me once, “There are two ways of teaching: the Greek way and the rabbinic way.” The Greek way, he ex-plained, is based on analysis and breaking down a subject into its logical outline sequence (I A, B, C; II A, B, C). The rabbinic way always begins, “Let me tell you a story.”

Jesus was, after all, a Jew who taught as a rabbi. His parables and his life were his teaching form. What I learned from the parables has deeply influenced my own life, especially the second half. Reflecting on them is as close as I can get to interviewing Jesus. So let me tell you what I personally learned during those critical few days.

Five Lessons I Learned from the Parables

1. The marketplace, which I define as the normal life, not the life of the cloister, is the field where most of life is to take place. How we use what we’ve been given in everyday life in contact with others and meeting their needs shows our commitment to God. And our demonstration of this commitment in the arena gives him the data for the separation of the wheat from the tares, the fruitful servants from the timid and unproductive, the righteous from the wicked, the sheep from the goats.

2. We are all tested for fruitfulness and stewardship. The time when we will be held accountable is a “surprise audit” (the Master’s return), not announced in advance.

3. God rewards the risk takers. He entrusts to them more responsibility. The reward for a duty performed is more duty to perform. (“Because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.” Luke 19:17) The man who attempts to “build greater barns” and who says, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease,” is condemned as a fool. Luke 12:12-20

4. There is a downside to timidity as well as an upside to taking risk. Possessions are a trust to be invested for a return. The timid and fearful who bury their talents are cast “into outer darkness” where there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 8:12 The talents of the fearful (fear is the opposite of faith) are taken away and given to the most productive. The fig tree is given many chances to produce, but in the end, when proven barren, it is cut down and burned.

5. God demands primary loyalty. (“You shall have no other gods before Me.” Exodus 20:3) God uses whatever is most valuable to us as a test of our primary loyalty. His test is to ask us to go further than we can go with our own logic and reason—into areas of faith. David goes against Goliath. Abraham is asked to sacrifice Isaac, for whom he has waited a lifetime. The rich young ruler is asked to sell his possessions to follow after Jesus. We are asked to be at risk, beyond the zone of our comfort, control, and comprehension.

We are called to risk all to gain that one thing that has real value. It’s the “pearl of great price,” worth giving up all else to attain. It is “like a treasure hidden in a field,” yet to use the title of Thomas Merton’s book, it is actually “hidden in plain sight.” It is the “surpassing value” for which the Apostle Paul suffers the loss of all things and counts them as rubbish in order to gain eternity.

The parables, like other teachings in the bible can be a great source of wisdom and even a guide to life in the 21^st century—great stories are always relevant.

After selling Buford Television, Inc.—a large network of cable systems across the country—in July 1999, Bob Buford has turned to investing the remaining years of his life in the lives of others. He is chairman of the board of The Buford Foundation and Leadership Network, was the co-founder and first chairman of the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management, and has authored three books including Halftime and most recently Finishing Well. Visit www.ACTIVEenergy.net to find out more about Bob and purchase his books. Bob and his wife, Linda, make their home in Dallas, Texas.