Are you bold and courageous?

This week while I was on a walk, I passed a lady carrying her not particularly small dog which made me smile as it seemed to defeat the object of taking the dog for a walk.  It was a very white dog, and the path was particularly squelchy at that point so maybe she didn’t want to get it muddy.  However, it got me thinking about being protective.

I remember being reprimanded by the father of one of my children’s friends for allowing my children to take risks.  At the time my son was climbing a tree in the village park that was quite spindly and potentially it might not have ended well.  His concern however was less that my son would get hurt and more that it would encourage other children (in particular, his son) to try it.  He was very risk-aware and would frequently tell his very lively son not to run, in case he fell over.  It seems caring and kind to wrap our children in cotton wool, to try and protect them from every bump and bruise, but is it really?  I realise there is a balance between allowing a degree of risk and dangerous neglect, but I wonder if we are producing people who expect to be protected from every possible harm and danger. 

As a 17-year-old, I travelled to Italy alone (taking two days to get there by bus and train), to spend 3 months out there working. I didn’t speak the language, didn’t know anyone there and it was long before the age of mobile phones.  I rang my parents, I think, twice during that time to my knowledge.  Once to say I had arrived, and once to say I wasn’t coming home, which was a point of negotiation, thankfully.  Did everything go perfectly?  No, but I grew up a lot.  I am glad I had the kind of parents who did not so wrap me in safety that I couldn’t move. They gave me space to fail and learn.

Increasingly, in this season, I have noticed that people’s emails, letters, and cards are often signed with “stay safe” or people say it to me as we say goodbye on the phone.  Signs are everywhere encouraging us to stay safe, to protect the health service, to stay indoors.  I am not at this point advocating outright rebellion, but I am interested in the culture that is growing.  I wonder if it is a sign of our over-protective culture.

I am not sure I managed to be as brave with my own children, as my parents were with me. It is natural to want to protect our children from harm and, if they ring and tell me of difficulties, I have a desire to fix it, to remove the problem from their lives.  However, I know that I have grown most by going through seasons of difficulty, especially when I involve God in the process.  As that wonderful verse in Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” That word all, means everything, even the hard things.

In the past, when we have prayed in church for people who were going on mission trips or going away, I have been struck by how many prayers are for their protection.  It seems that we have become very focussed on safety, almost to the exclusion of what God wants to do.  I understand that it is motivated by love, but it makes me wonder. Imagine if the missionaries who took the gospel to Africa or who went to China had had a similar mindset.  Imagine if Paul had had a similar mindset.  I wonder how far the gospel would have spread.  

If we are totally focussed on minimising every risk, every potential danger, every potential hardship, it stifles our capacity to step out in faith.  We are tempted to wait until we have all the money we need in the bank, or until every step of the journey is in place. 

This does not seem biblical to me.  When I read the Acts of the Apostles, it is incredibly challenging.  The bible does not encourage me to do things if it is safe, it encourages me to step out in obedience and trust that God has me covered.  It encourages me to focus on obedience before safety.  Paul was given a prophetic word, by Agabus, that if he went to Rome he would be in danger.  The disciples tried to persuade him not to go but he said he was ready to die if necessary. (Acts 21).  The list of things Paul endured for the sake of the gospel in 2 Corinthians 11 shows that he meant what he said.

Jesus told his disciples several times that he was going to be killed and that after three days he would rise from the dead.  On one occasion, when Jesus was explaining what would happen to him, Peter took him aside and tried to dissuade him.  Jesus’ reaction was stern, and he rebuked Peter saying that he did not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” (Matthew 16:23) Thank God, Jesus did have in mind the concerns of God or we would be in dire straits right now.

I don’t know about you, but my natural instincts tend towards self-preservation, towards comfort, what Jesus would call “human concerns” all too often, but the call of the gospel is to sacrifice. It is to lay down our lives and be willing to go wherever, whenever, God calls us, trusting in his provision.  I have wondered recently where that 17-year-old girl, who was daring and adventurous enough to set off to Italy without all the T’s crossed and I’s dotted, has gone (not that it was for God, or that I was saved at the time).  

The life of faith is often one of uncertainty, we don’t know all the steps.  We don’t know the path that is laid down for us.  We are called to follow his lead.  The trouble is, for many of us, feeling safe involves know what’s going to happen, having all the bases covered. How many of us get our security from being in control?  However, as Christians, we gave the reins to Jesus.  He is in charge; He is Lord.

The life of faith is also one of dying.  Dying to self, dying to the desire to do things our own way, laying down our lives in sacrifice for others.  As it says in Mark 8:34-36, “Then Jesus called the crowd to Him along with His disciples, and He told them, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and for the gospel will save it.  What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”

Jesus tells us in John 16 that in this world we will have trouble, but we are to be encouraged because he has overcome the world.  So often I think our biblical understanding is faulty and we equate suffering with a lack of God’s love or a lack of blessing.  Jesus told his disciples in many ways, and it is evident from a cursory reading of the letters of the New Testament, that suffering, hardship, and persecution are normal fayre for the believer.  This is the expectation in other parts of the world too, but I think in the Western church, we have got a skewed perception of God’s protection, of his blessing and we expect our lives to be bubble-wrapped. 

I am challenged greatly in my comfortable life by all this. We are called to follow Jesus, who went to the cross, by taking up our cross and dying daily.  That doesn’t sound too “safe” to me!