When Jim Burke became the head of a new products division at Johnson & Johnson, one of his first projects was the development of a children’s chest rub. The product failed miserably, and Burke expected that he would be fired.

When he was called in to see the chairman of the board, however, he met a surprising reception.

“Are you the one who just cost us all that money?” asked Robert Wood Johnson. “Well I just want to congratulate you. If you are making mistakes, that means you are taking risks, and we won’t grow unless you take risks!”

Apparently, Mr. Johnson wasn’t joking. Years later, Johnson & Johnson remains one of the largest multi-national manufacturers of pharmaceutical, diagnostic, therapeutic, surgical, personal hygiene, baby and biotechnology products.

Likewise, we believers are called to take some risks so that God’s Kingdom may grow.

So often, we cower at the opportunities He makes available because we are too afraid things won’t go the way hope and others might be disappointed or sneer at our failure.

But God wants us to go forth boldly, sometimes taking a risk or two, so that we may accomplish great things for Him!

Yes, sometimes we’ll get it wrong and there may be a hard lesson to learn. But we will learn, and eventually great things may happen as result of our courage and persistence!

The time is short and there is so much work to do for the Kingdom. We cannot afford to stand in the sidelines any longer.

Let’s ask the Lord to cause to us have courage and go in boldness! God’s Kingdom won’t grow unless we start taking some risks.

by George Whitten