Following Jesus Christ requires taking risks. There is the risk of faith, risk of reputation, risk of control, and a variety of other risks. Everything changes when you say yes to Jesus.
Years ago, I purchased a well used Nissan Sentra car primarily for commuting 70 miles one way to a Bible college. The driver side looked fine, but the passenger side had been in a major side-swipe accident. The rear passenger door would not open and both doors were crushed inward. Other drivers would give me lots of room when they saw the passenger side feeling I had nothing to lose in a fender bender with a car like that!
People with lives crushed by injustices, loses, and pain are willing to take the risk to follow Jesus because they have lost so much, they have nothing left to lose. Those who are sailing along well in life are less willing to give up everything and follow Jesus because they value too much what they are giving up.
A rich, young man came to Jesus and asked how he might inherit eternal life. He had been following the Ten Commandments, yet knew he was missing something important in life. When Jesus told the young man to take a risk, sell everything and give it to the poor, he could not take the risk and went away sad.
He made the same mistake that many people make today. They do not realize that when you take the risk, what Jesus has to offer is always greater than what have.
Mark 10:29-30“I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for Me and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.
What risks do you face or have you faced to give up all and follow Jesus?