As you may already be aware, something amazing happened on live television this past Sunday. Nik Wallenda, a seventh-generation member of the legendary Flying Wallendas daredevil family (ask your grandparents?), stunned millions of American viewers by walking on a tightrope across the Grand Canyon live on the Discovery Channel without any kind of safety mechanism.

In case you missed it, here is a clip:

Though I did not watch live as Wallenda crossed the Grand Canyon, I did watch a year ago when he pulled off the same stunt at Niagara Falls live on ABC.

Perhaps most interesting is how Nik Wallenda has appropriated his death-defying high wire adventures as an opportunity to proclaim his faith in Jesus Christ. As Wallenda gingerly made his way across the Grand Canyon, he prayed aloud for safety and repeatedly thanked Jesus for the amazing opportunity and the spectacular views. Immediately before and after the daring feat, Wallenda prayed on camera with his family and exulted in God’s faithfulness. For Nik Wallenda, this was clearly more than a brazen stunt. It was a platform to proclaim the glory of God.

Yet for those of us who have known God’s grace in Jesus Christ and therefore seek to live for the praise of God’s glory, Wallenda’s actions should raise some questions for us. Is Nik Wallenda being faithful or reckless? Should we be celebrating a husband and father who takes such breathtaking risks? Should Wallenda’s story inspire us to do similar things in order to gain an audience for the gospel?

I believe Scripture provides us with at least three broad principles for responding properly to these stunts and learning how to embrace both risk and caution for God’s glory.

1. Rejoice not as the world rejoices.

Firstly, we should be most entranced and captivated by the things of God, not merely the things of the world. The apostle Paul makes this clear when he admonishes the Corinthian church for their inordinate fascination with worldly wisdom and human heroes.

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast befor God.

– 1 Corinthians 1:27-28

It comes natural to us to be wowed by the things that are impressive by worldly standards. And that’s not always a bad thing. But it is harmful when our enjoyment of worldly feats exceeds or obscures our enjoyment those things which God values. This wrong infatuation with the world is evidently what ailed the Corinthian church, and we are also vulnerable to the same phenomenon. Though we might often protest that our enjoyment of worldly delights is simply an innocent desire to partake in a little harmless fun or entertainment, there is always the danger that our hearts will be swept away by these things.

On the other hand, the things that should impress us most are often the very things which the world most overlooks or even despises. Just consider the fruit of the Spirit outlined in Galatians 5:22-23. On the hierarchy of things to get excited about these must be at the top. Yet for all the practical ways that we would practice these spiritual virtues, we will not often receive notoriety and public praise in the church, let alone in the world at large. Often the most godly among us are those who are quietly and humbly serving, without drawing much attention to themselves at all.

It’s not wrong to be impressed by amazing things that people accomplish in this world. And it is certainly true that our amazement at a spectacle such as Nik Wallenda’s high wire stunt can be redeemed as a broader enjoyment of God’s glory in the way he gifts human beings. But we must be thoughtful and vigilant about it. If there is no conscious thought of God’s glory, then there is probably no worship taking place. And that is always a problem!    (1 Cor. 10:31)

2. Only gospel-driven risks are worthy risks.

Just as our enjoyment of the Wallenda stunt must be motivated by God-centered worship, so also the stunt itself should be motivated by God-centered worship. On the surface, Wallenda’s stunt certainly seems like a faithful act of death-defying worship. After all, it has resulted in millions of people being exposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ. But regardless of the gospel proclamation that has resulted, it is important that we not lose sight of the stunt itself in determining whether or not it was a good, wise thing for Wallenda to do.

On this point, it is helpful for us to consider the fact that Wallenda’s high wire stunt was enormously risky, while having little or no inherent societal value. What I mean is that there was no societal need that necessitated Nik Wallenda crossing the Grand Canyon on a tightrope. Was Wallenda delivering a backpack full of Bibles to an unreached tribe? Was he carrying supplies to build a well in an impoverished village? Was he trying to rescue someone who was stranded on a ridge of the canyon? No. He was simply doing it to prove that he could do it. And in the process, he placed himself and his family in a tremendously risky situation. With one strong gust of wind, Nik Wallenda’s children could be without a father today. And for what purpose? Our entertainment.

Scripture has much to say about exercising wisdom in our lives even as we take risks. Though we suffer, do not do so because of our sin (1 Pt. 1:17). Though we trust God, we do not put him to the test (Matt. 4:6-7). Although Nik Wallenda insists that his daredevil stunt is a testimony of God’s faithfulness to protect him and give him success, we must always remember that God gives us no such promise of material prosperity. Instead, God’s rock-solid promises to his people are for our spiritual prosperity through the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Thus, Wallenda’s theology in the matter bears some of the classic marks of the so-called “prosperity gospel.” It is fitting, then, that Wallenda was joined at the Grand Canyon by Joel Osteen, the poster boy for this wrong-headed focus on material blessing.

While I certainly cannot pronounce any definitive judgement on Nik Wallenda’s motives, his understanding of God’s faithfulness seems, at best, immature and, at worst, heretical. Though God does certainly bless us even when we do stupid, unwise things, we should not therefore engage in stupid, unwise things. Tempting fate does not give God the glory he is due.

3. Rejoice that Christ is proclaimed.

Okay, I have been rather hard on Nik Wallenda and his legion of fans thus far. But regardless of my deep concerns, I am grateful that it has in fact resulted in the proclaiming of Christ. I agree with the apostle Paul when he says the following:

What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.

– Philippians 1:18

To be sure, the means by which Christ is being proclaimed could be more helpful. And Nik Wallenda could be more clear and biblically-rooted in his attempts to articulate his faith. Still, at the end of the day, I do take joy in the fact that millions of people heard Christ proclaimed on live television without censorship. And since that is becoming increasingly rare in our society, we should be all the more thankful when it does happen.

While we must be vigilant about theological precision, we must not be cynical. Instead, we must remember that God is powerful and faithful to use even the feeblest, clumsiest efforts of man to bear fruit for his kingdom. Perhaps, when Christ returns and we stand before him in judgment, we will find that Nik Wallenda’s high wire trek across the Grand Canyon resulted in sinners repenting and believing in Christ. Perhaps not. Either way, our hope is that God himself will use his Word to bring himself glory and build his kingdom.