Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Not safe but Good!




Several years ago while still serving as a Pastor in Indiana, I read a book titled "Your God is too safe" by Mark Buchanan. The premise of the book (which I would recommend as a read if you're ready) deals with the fact that though God is a loving, caring and compassionate father; He is absolutely not safe. God; though he exudes these attributes in His character is not a safe God calling us to live life without risk, staying on the borderland allowing life to pass by why we watch from a distance because we are too afraid we may fail or worse yet some of us are afraid we will succeed and then what will we do?

"God isn't safe and so we keep our distance. Like Adam, we hide from him. Like Peter we try to send Him away. Like Jonah, we run in the opposite direction. And we end up in "borderland", a strange and safe place that lacks everything we really seek: passion, power and freedom." (excerpt taken from "Your God is too safe").

What causes this in our lives? Why do we who have been created with a sense of adventure, excitement and passionate living turn away from a God who draws us into a life beyond the "borderland" into a life filled with a passionate pursuit of truth, love and freedom? Often we hear things like "the safest place to be is in the center of God's will" I would like to say however when we are in the center of God's will for our lives at any given time it is most likely the most dangerous place to be, yet it is by far the best place we can find ourselves. When we are obediently following after the heart and life of God, it will not be a safe place but it will indeed be a good place.

In one of C.S. Lewis' writings in "The Chronicles of Narnia" he shares a conversation between Lucy and Mr. Beaver concerning Aslan (The Lion who represents Jesus) when she discovers he is not a man but a lion.

Lucy " Then.. he isn't safe"
Mr. Beaver " Safe?" "Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver is telling you?" "Who said anything about safe?" "Course he isn't safe, but he's good!" " He's the king I tell you."

"Then He is not safe?" Course He isn't safe, but He is good I tell you"; He is indeed the king and Lord of all! He can be trusted in all things, with all things and through all circumstances we find ourselves in; He is the compassionate, loving, caring and faithful father we hoped that He was but let us not mistake these character attributes with a God who is safe. Let us not confuse these character traits and somehow make God out to be something we want Him to be rather than believing Him for who He is.

God calls us beyond borderland living into the great wild and though it will be a different course for each of us, we are called to move beyond and not sit in the safe zone watching life pass by. God's call's us into the world to be His light, voice, hope, goodness and love but often the places He leads us will be more dangerous than we had hoped. Will we trust He to do through us and more importantly in us those things he desires or will we run, turn away or choose a different course ourselves? We can do these things and we all make the decisions in one way or another every single day. Which will choose?

Check out this short video illustration from Francis Chan.


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