Safety isn’t the answer

For some reason we think that safe lives make better Christians. I would actually argue the contrary.

We play it safe when it comes to living our lives for Christ because if we go full out we might offend someone.

We play it safe when we set goals, because we have to be rational and practical.

We play it safe when we think of our future, because we figure we will just be disappointed if our future turns out looking the same as the present.

But the people in the Bible teach me that walking by faith is anything but safe. CS Lewis says that although God is good, He isn’t safe. And as M. Craig Barnes says, “It is very dangerous to our spiritual lives to live too carefully.”

I am not making an argument to be careless, but be passionate, authentic, and fearless.

For some reason Christians appear to act as if they were walking on egg shells for fear of our reputation, our relationships, and our stability.

We know the risks that could happen if we went all out… but do we know the benefits?

Abraham left his home because God called him to…. and God made Him the father of a nation.

Esther gave up everything- her life, her virginity, and her people for the possibility of being a queen, then she was called to save her people even if it costed her her life… and she saved God’s people and became a hero.

As a young man, David went up against a giant. Obviously the odds weren’t in his favor… but God made a king out of that boy with a sling-shot.

Ruth left everything that could potentially help her start over again after her husband’s death, but instead she followed her godly mother-in-law… and she was blessed with a family and in the lineage of Jesus himself.

Peter left the only life he knew as a fisherman to follow a man around who simply called him from the shore… and that man saved the world.

And then one of my favorites lately- a young man left everything he had, a great inheritance, a wonderful father and family all to waste the money he had to work lower than a servant, but when he comes crawling back home he is the one who is embraced by his father. And he is the one who gets the party. Not the brother who stayed home where everything was safe.

I use to think this story seemed awfully unfair. Probably because I related better to the brother who was loyal to his father, but what I have come to find is that even though one son may be loyal, it doesn’t mean his heart is in it. He may do what is right, but there is no passion behind it. And who in the end of the story finds themselves in the arms of God?… the one who takes the risks.

I am not saying to run away, take all of your money, spend it carelessly, and leave your family hanging. But I think when we step out on a ledge we find God in the unsafe places. If God is not a safe God, I can only imagine that He likes to be found in those not-so-safe-places in life.

Advertisement