Some level of risk is inherent in life in general. And missions brings some additional ones as well. I believe that what I wrote in October 2015 is still true – about risk and about idolatry in general.
I’ll admit – I’m a bit scared to write this. There’s some (theologically unsound) apprehension that once I say this out loud, or in writing, the Lord will ask me to live it out more completely.
I place a high priority on safety. I’m not a fan of “risk for risk’s sake”. I want to feel safe – and my choices of where to live and what to do on a daily basis are impacted by this. I admit to feeling a bit nervous when my adult daughter lives in a city and I don’t know how “safe” her neighborhood is. My first thought when I think of certain regions of the world or certain parts of a city is primarily the lack of safety. And so on – in big and small ways, my thoughts are filtered through safety.
I don’t think that is necessarily wrong. In fact, I think it’s wise.
But what if safety becomes an idol?
How do we know if it is an idol? For me, it would be an idol if my “yes” to the Lord was held hostage to my requirement for safety. If safety absolutely had to be first – no matter what, no exceptions.
As followers of Jesus, idolatry in any form needs to be recognized and confronted with brutal honesty about the place it holds in our lives. Anything that supplants the Lord as number one in our lives is an idol. Is safety an idol in my life? Maybe not. Do I need to be watchful so that it doesn’t become one? I do. If I felt the Lord calling me to an unsafe place, would I go? I hope so.
There’s a commonly repeated phrase, intended to bring comfort, but which nags at me because I don’t think it is true – at least not the way people tend to use it.
“The safest place to be is the center of God’s will.”
Is the center of God’s will absolutely the RIGHT or BEST place to be? Yes. Is it the “safest” by the measure most of us use for safety? I’m not sure it is.
Look at the apostle Paul, who describes his life this way: “Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.” (2 Cor. 11:24-27)
There’s the early church, in Acts 3:29, who when faced with strong persecution did not pray for safety but prayed “Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness ….”
Matt Blazer, my pastor in Connecticut, describes any promised safety this way: It refers to our internal heart and our eternal salvation.
So what does it take to make this shift in perspective?
Let’s start by being honest that safety and comfort are not the same thing. Most of the world lives very differently than we do. A lack of nice houses, air conditioning, good food, regular electricity, or indoor toilets – or even the presence of things like lice and bed bugs – is not primarily a safety issue. It’s primarily a comfort issue. We can talk about safety, but let’s make sure we’re not really talking about comfort.
Let’s admit that it is impossible to be incarnational with our message of the gospel and also make our comfort or our safety the most important thing. If we follow the model of Jesus, we will dwell among those we are called to love. Whether or not it is comfortable. Whether or not it is safe.
Let’s realize that the shift involves the spiritual realm and not just the physical one. Erwin McManus tells a story of his son, who had been scared by demon stories during his first time at a Christian summer camp. He asks Erwin “Will you pray that God will keep me safe?” Erwin’s response was “I can’t pray that God will always keep you safe, but I will pray that God makes you so dangerous that when you enter a room, the demons flee.” (paraphrased based on my memory of the story)
Can I get there? To the point where I am more concerned about being powerful in the spiritual realm than safe or comfortable in the physical realm? I don’t know. But I think I’m supposed to try.
(Postscript Note: I work for an organization that makes safety a top priority for our mission trip participants – and it is right for us to do so. This is not about questioning or changing that. Scripture is clear that we are to be wise, that we are to count the cost before entering into something. I believe safety is part of that equation. But I’ve written before about a tendency to mask fear by calling it “wisdom”. And Seth Barnes, the founder of Adventures in Missions, often tells people that if we wanted our kids to be safe, we shouldn’t have introduced them to Jesus.)
Betty's Thoughts 