“When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, ‘Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.’” Mk. 8:34,35
We are set apart for many things. God-stained holiness, passionate worship, extraordinary love, etc. But one thing we are not set apart for is safety, much as part of us yearns for it. Once our short stay on this planet is terminated, safety will be our everlasting possession. But not here. Not now. These are the days of open warfare on the spiritual front, of hand-to-hand combat with an enemy who wants to take us out at all costs. And one of his most effective weapons is the lie that the best life has to offer is comfort, safety, and abundance. It’s what Francis Schaeffer used to describe as the world view of modern Western man – “personal peace and affluence.” John Stott has a great word on this:
“The motto of our generation is, “Safety first.” Many…are looking for a safe job in which they can feather their nest, secure their future, insure their lives, reduce all risks, and retire on a fat pension.
There is nothing wrong in providing for your future, but this spirit pervades our life until life becomes soft and padded and all adventure is gone. We are so thickly wrapped in cotton wool that we can neither feel the pain of the world nor hear the Word of God…Jesus did not remain in the social immunity of heaven, or hide away in the safety of the skies. He entered the zone of danger, risking contamination…How can we make safety our ambition?”
I am struck by his phrase, “life becomes soft and padded and all adventure is gone”. I, for one, would have to admit that my life is more adventure-deleted than I believe God ever intended it to be. And so often I find safety to be the primary culprit. Safety in relationships. Safety in finances. Safety in not risking saying what I really believe for fear of personal rejection. Safety in not making the gospel more of an issue. Safety in not appearing too extreme. Perhaps you can add your own safety culprits. But the reality is that the way of the cross is the only path that can lead us back into the daring, risking, adventuresome life we are set apart for. We can have safety or we can have life;. but we can’t have both. At least that’s what it seems to me our Lord is saying.
Flashpoint: The way of the cross is the path to true life. And the farewell to present safety.
