Are you playing it safe?
Most of us are happy to settle in to a safe and secure life. It’s the goal we all want to achieve. But should a Christian play it safe?
Settled in and safe
To settle, in one sense, means to adopt a more steady or secure style of life. We like this idea of settling in. It sounds safe and predictable.
But then I think about the story of Ruth. If you don’t know the story of Ruth in the Bible, you should read it. It’s just four short chapters, but an amazing story of love and sacrifice.
Ruth didn’t play it safe
When Ruth became a widow and her mother-in-law, Naomi, decided to head back to her own country, Ruth had to make a decision. Should she stay in her own country with her family? She was comfortable and knew she would be secure moving back in with her parents.
Or should she leave with Naomi into an unknown land with zero promises of a better future? Do you ever wonder what you would have done in her shoes?
The Less-Safe Path
Ruth decided to go with her mother-in-law. She sacrificed being safe in an act of loyalty, love, and compassion.
Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. For wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. –Ruth1:16
Settling For Less
Another way to describe settling is to come to rest in a comfortable position. Think of it as being satisfied, even complacent, with life. Of course we should feel contentment in our life, accepting God and his sovereignty in our circumstances.
But that’s not the direction I want to steer you. The question is , “Have you become too comfortable, too safe, in your current circumstances?” Nicodemus felt this way. He was only willing to meet Jesus at night, in secret. (John 3:2) It was safer to not let anyone know that a Pharisee was meeting with the radical Jesus.
Comfortable Christianity
Our church recently announced mission trips scheduled for Germany, Iraq, and Brazil. At first I thought all three sounded like somewhere I would want to go and serve. But then later, I thought of several reasons I wouldn’t want to go to Iraq. In the end, they all led back to that same word: SAFE.
This is just an example. You can fill in the blank will all kinds of opportunities to serve and share the Gospel that aren’t safe or comfortable. Where do you draw the line of what you are willing to do for Jesus? Also, are you willing for people to not LIKE you, even HATE you.
When we decide to play it safe, we are turning on God’s plans for us to be set apart. We aren’t living in the “Now”. Listen to what Jesus told the apostles.
If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
John 15:18-19
Settling Leads to Sinking
The thing about settling is that you eventually get stuck. If you’ve ever put your beach chair right up by the water where the waves are rolling in, you know what Im talking about. Your chair sinks down in the sand and after awhile it won’t budge.
Pulling Out of Safety
You’ve got to get up out of your beach chair and pull it loose. And if you don’t, the tide will keep rising and eventually you’re underwater.
The thing is, playing it safe, comfy and settled, really isn’t safe at all. We become a part of this world, sitting in our beach chairs, in over our heads.
Pray for God to give you courage as you pull yourself out of your chair. He loves you and you belong to him.
You are precious in His sight,
