I posted a few times last year from Erwin McManus’ book Seizing Your Divine Moment, mostly from his discussion about risk and safety. McManus challenged the popular notion that the safest place for a Christian is “in the middle of God’s will”, suggesting that indeed the opposite is true, that it is a place that is often dangerous, requiring great risk.

I would agree with the proposition that being in God’s will is a safe place to be in one respect - that our eternal destiny is safe. However, I would also agree with McManus that - in this world - living in God’s will may very well be a dangerous place. In discussing this last year, someone else asked, if it’s supposed to be such a risky place to be, are we sure we’re doing God’s will if our lives do not contain some measure of risk and danger?

I was reminded of all of this as I read the following from Shane Claiborne’s book. I’ve posted a little from this book, and have several passages from it copied to potentially post later (one of which I’ll use now.) This is what Claiborne writes after having discussed a time when he was jailed and forced to go to court over some actions to help the homeless (all charges were dropped):

We caught a glimpse of what Paul and Silas saw as they sang and prayed in that jail cell until “the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose” (Acts 16:26). … I knew that he meant it when he said, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first… In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 15:18; 16:33). In fact, I remember thinking that if the world does not hate us, perhaps we should question whether we really are part of another kingdom.

Sounds familiar. McManus and Claiborne seem to be on the same page. Earlier in the chapter, Claiborne wrote the following:

Some Christians take so few risks, it’s no wonder folks have a hard time believing in heaven. Most of us live in such fear of death that it’s as if no one really believes in resurrection anymore. Sometimes people ask me if I am scared, living in the inner city. I usually reply, “I’m more scared of the suburbs.” The Scriptures say that we should not fear those things which can destroy the body, but we are to fear that which can destroy the sould (Matt 10:28). While the ghettos may have their share of violence and crime, the suburbs are the home of the more subtle demonic forces - numbness, complacency, comfort - and it is these that can eat away at our souls.

My dear mother (bless her heart) has some things to say about safety. Again, I’m her only child, so there’s a lot at stake for her. As she watched me go to jail and travel to Iraq, with God’s hand evidently in it all, my mom has learned a lot about faith, safety, and risk. It has not been easy, but recently she told me, “I have come to see that we Christians are not called to safety, but we are promised that God will be with us when we are in danger, and there is no better place to be than in the hands of God.” Perhaps the most dangerous place for a Christian to be is in safety and comfort.

He later brings up the scene in C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe where Lucy is about to encounter Aslan for the first time. Lucy inquires whether or not Aslan is safe, and Mr. Beaver replies, “Safe? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

Claiborne concludes the section: “That’s the God I have come to know, a God who is not at all safe, but a God who is good.”

As 2007 approaches, I’m hoping for more of a change of heart. Sometimes it takes a little time for things to sink in for me. After reading McManus’ book last year, I was challenged and thought about it’s implications a lot. It made me think a little differently, question a few things, but in the end, I did very little about it in 2006. Changing my thinking is the first step, and it seems changing actions often takes a little longer. God is not safe. But He’s good. That’s the God I want to know better, too. I hope this time it takes, and 2007 will be a much better year.