When is the last time you took a risk? How did it work out?
Life on earth is risky, for we live in a world broken by sin.
Everyone faces risks – for example, environmental risks, situational risks, and self-created risks. The risk of being a victim of circumstance, or the risk of damaging one’s health through excessive drinking, exists worldwide.
Visible risks are too many to count, but the one risk people should count yet don’t is the unseen risk of falling into eternal death. Eliminating visible risks is difficult enough, but believing in the unseen risk of eternal death is even harder. Walking without tripping or fending off diseases may be achievable with safety measures. Escaping eternal death, however, is possible only through faith in the one and only – Jesus Christ.
I took risks every day during my career years due to the nature of my profession. Today, I still take risks in my volunteer work because of the nature of that work: chaplaincy ministry. Visiting hospitals with a high risk of contracting infectious diseases seems unwise. While risk-control measures such as face masks, protective gloves, and hand hygiene products are in place, the risk of infection is not eliminated. Yet I put myself in such a risky situation every week.
A few years ago, I had a painful yet meaningful encounter with a patient I visited. She passed on her influenza (type A) to me, and I fell sick for two weeks. This sickness, though, has enhanced my sense of empathy towards patients.
This morning, I experienced another adventurous visit, and, likewise, another joyous feeling from the Holy Spirit. Bringing peace and hope to those in agony makes my small sacrifice worthwhile. The more I serve people in need of love and care, the more I appreciate the saying: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
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Acts 20:35
“In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
✨✨💖 ~
en yan hua fang 