I finished my car today. One of the two real gearheads I work with stopped by last night, unexpectedly, because he wanted to help me. He helped me to punch the head of the broken bolt to prep it for drilling, and then between the two of us, we managed to get it drilled out. He insisted that I do the honors with the 'easy out', because he said that if it snapped off in the hole, he was going to run. That was more than fair enough I thought, as that sort of a little problem would cause me to have to replace an entire housing, and would cost probably $250.00. He didn't want to be responsible for the possibly costly failure. I don't blame him. It was too costly for him to take the risk. I would do the same if the situation were reversed. It would be his risk and his decision.
The Apostle Paul was more generous than either my friend or I am. In the first part of Romans nine, he stated that he would have given up his own salvation to bring his Jewish brethren to Christ, so great was the ache in his heart for them to come to know Jesus. While I ache personally for several friends and family members to know Jesus, I would never trade my salvation in so they could know Him. Never. I guess that's just one of the myriad number of things that made Paul such a great man of God.
I've had many different conversations about personal risk. Some of these conversations involved physical risk, and many of them were about spiritual risk. I have warned some from taking great personal risk to achieve a small payoff, when the outcome could easily have been very hurtful. I have gone so far as to put myself between some people and their foolishness, changing things a little, and taking a calculated lesser risk. In the case of the supernatural however, I would never do that. Risking your physical life stupidly while you know Jesus and trust in Him for your salvation might be foolish, but it doesn't threaten to change your eternal destination.
If I didn't know that the enemy was the great deceiver, I would never be able to understand those people who say that they would like to party now, and that they'll get to know Jesus later on, when they've had their fun. Yes, I have met these people. They are taking the ultimate risk. They are banking on some innate feeling they have that everything will be okay, and that some Christians just worry too much. Wouldn't it be just a little bit smarter, not to take the risk, and to trust Him now?
Paul had great love for his fellow Jews, coming from the place where he did, and having been shown the grace and forgiveness of God as he was. He knew what they were risking. As fellow believers in Jesus, most of us can say we were once where unbelievers now are, and we know the difference between what they have, and what they are risking.