Safety or Stewardship

God just wants me to be safe. I hear this almost daily, sometimes multiple times a day, and my response is almost always some version of, “Which verse is that?” God wants you to be a lot of things, but safe is not one of them. If you are a follower of Christ, the odds are good that you’ll be thrown to lions, sawn in half, burnt at the stake, reviled, maligned, hated, your property plundered, your blood spilled, etc. (compare Hebrews 11).

If my response is not “Which verse is that?” then I’m probably asking when they’re flying to Nigeria to proclaim this message to our brothers and sisters there. Certainly, a people who are being actively hunted by terrorists and holding weekly mass funerals need to know that God just wants them to be safe.

Why does it flow so naturally from our lips that God wants us to be safe? We certainly can’t back that up from scripture or history. It’s because it scratches our itching ears, because our flesh wants to be safe and comfortable so we extrapolate that God must want us to be likewise. Your body doesn’t get to go to heaven, so it cares nothing for holiness. It doesn’t have to go to hell, so it fears none of the danger. The problem is your flesh has no interest in your soul's ultimate safety.

When Paul was commissioned, he was told right from the start how much he would have to suffer for Christ’s sake (Acts 9:16). Just a few years later he gives a list of things he had already suffered that included time in prison, five brutal lashings, three additional beatings, dangerous river crossings, waylaid in the wilderness, shipwrecks, exposure to the cold, and constantly opposed by men who said they loved him and men who said they hated him (compare 2 Corinthians 11:23-29). In another place it’s recorded that he was stoned so severely that his attackers were sure they had killed him (Acts 14:19), which is probably when he got to see heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2-4). Not a moment of Paul’s life was safe, right up until he was beheaded. Compare the other Apostles and you’ll see similar lists with equally violent ends.

Jesus told us “Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25). Safety is not just the wrong choice, here Jesus tells us it’s an idol that cannot save. Safety is a sin, and it will cost your life.

Consider for a moment Jesus in the safety of heaven surrounded by hundreds of thousands of guardian angels when it was time to step out of heaven to fulfill his purpose (John 18:37). If God just wanted him to be safe, he would have gone all helicopter dad and said, “Jesus, I don’t want you going down there, it’s not safe! Have you seen what they’ve done to the prophets? Have you seen what they do to each other?” Instead, God the Father prepared a body for Jesus, one that could bleed, one that could hurt, one that could shed tears. One that could die. The only person who would suffer more than Paul would be Jesus. Jesus said, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18).

When Peter chose his own safety over faithfulness, Jesus told him he needed to repent so he could be restored (Luke 22:32). Was Jesus being overly harsh in telling Peter that he needed to turn? Didn’t Jesus understand that Peter’s very life was at stake? How can he find fault?

Soldiers of Christ are in a war. War is the opposite of safety. The universal phobia is someone trying to kill you, and yet the Christian lives here with an enemy who would and will devour him in an instant if given the opportunity. If God wanted you to be safe, then Satan would be a caged, declawed, defanged pussy cat that you could hold on your lap. But he’s not, he’s actively stealing, killing, and destroying.

The Lord gets his best soldiers out of the highlands of affliction. ~ Charles Spurgeon

For this reason, Paul tells us that “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:11). That comes right after he said we are following his teaching, his conduct, his aim in life, his faith, his patience, his love, his steadfastness (2 Timothy 3:10, compare 1 Corinthians 11:1). If we are following Jesus, Paul, Peter, Andrew, and multitudes of others, we must realize that Christianity is not safe.

Crucifixion on a Roman cross, crucifixion upside down, crucifixion on an X-shaped cross, beheading, prison, false accusations…these are all real possibilities. How Christlike can you be if no one has ever tried to crucify you? How much do you desire godliness if you’re chasing the comforts of this world? Are you really following Paul or Peter if your life is safe?

The only place the Christian will be safe is at the end of this life, as Paul said,

The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever, amen. ~ 2 Timothy 4:18

Or as Keith and Kristyn Getty so masterfully sing it,

Let this journey bring a blessing,
Let me rise on wings of faith,
And at the end of my heart’s testing,
With your likeness let me wake.

So if God is not concerned about our safety, then why do we put on seatbelts, or carry bear-spray, or lock our doors at night? The godly reason is stewardship; the ungodly reason is fear. Paul said he was rescued out of the lion’s mouth so that the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it (2 Timothy 4:17). It wasn’t so Paul wouldn’t have teeth marks or shed blood in the battle, it was so the Lamb who was slain might receive the reward of his suffering.

God puts us in difficult situations for the sake of the message. Paul said from prison, “I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear” (Philippians 1:12-14).

A shepherd prepares to defend the
flock he has been entrusted with,
to his own peril.

Listen for that message in this quote,

Let us stand fast in what is right and prepare our souls for trial. Let us be neither dogs that do not bark nor silent onlookers, nor paid servants who run away before the wolf. Instead, where the battle rages, let us find ourselves. Run towards the roar of the battle! That is where Christ’s most glorious victories shall be won. ~ Winfred Boniface

So beloved, God does not want you to be safe. If you’re safe you’re not in God’s will. If you’re not in God’s will, you’re not a good steward. And if you’re not a good steward, you’re in great danger of losing your life. And not just your life, but your soul, for cowards will have their place in the lake of fire (Revelation 21:8).

It is required of stewards that they be found faithful. ~ 1 Corinthians 4:2