God is not safe. He doesn’t fit into your plans. He isn’t whistled up to perform your every whim. He isn’t contained by the highest heavens. His ways are not your ways, and His thoughts are not your thoughts.
Furthermore, God’s plans for you aren’t “safe”. God doesn’t summon you to a cozy life. He doesn’t call you to live like everyone else, just with fewer R-rated movies. He doesn’t call you to obedience, but just when you feel like getting around to it. You aren’t delivered from the prison in order to relax at the spa. You’re set free from the concentration camp in order to take up arms against the enemy who once held you captive.
Christians aren’t those who draw back & are destroyed (Heb. 10:39). Rather, we’re those who give all to gain all. Christian maturity isn’t learning to avoid & mitigate all risks. No. It is learning to take bold risks. Risks arising from faithful study of God’s Word. Risks arising from praying specific prayers. Risks arising from taking bold steps outside the comfy lines of American life.
Have you been telling God that you’ll follow Him so far, but no further? Are you willing to obey God’s word only insofar as it comports with your plans for your life, your finances, your retirement plans? Have you started avoiding eye-contact with God, afraid that He’ll call on you in front of all the class to take some bold step of faith?
So take stock. Don’t confess the doctrine of God’s sovereignty, while attempting to argue yourself into thinking of Him as small enough to not disrupt your plans. Are the nations converted yet? Are all the orphans placed in families? Are the fortresses of evil overthrown? Since there is much work to be done, say your prayers, trust your God, and charge to where the fighting is fiercest.
Solomon tells us of the fool who complains of nonexistent lions and bears in the way, and won’t venture out (Pro. 26:13). He will not venture out, and so he wastes away in fear, apathy, and wins no victories. If we would see Christ’s kingdom come in power, the church reformed and renewed, our nation gleam with evangelical faith from our greatest cities to our smallest towns, the unborn spared, the marriage bed reverenced, and Christ acknowledged as King over all, we must repent of risking little in our attempts to obtain these ends, and for having a small faith. May God grant us courage to be of great faith, and risk much for His kingdom, power, and glory.
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