Safety Drill

There’s something in our culture that has been ingrained in every American, and it’s the belief that we have a God-given right to security and safety. This is the right that leads us to fight wars on terror and imprison people that want to hurt us.

This is a mentality of a nation, but not of Christ and His teachings. Somehow the two have become mixed in a way that makes Christians think that safety and security is a core fundamental of our faith. What is it in us that declares that Jesus wants us to be safe? Why do we try to mix safety with the gospel?

Something is missing when we claim to believe in a man who was crucified for His teachings but we don’t want to feel unsafe. Something is missing when we claim to believe to be one of His disciples, but we don’t want to live the same life or die the same death that they did. Something is missing when Jesus declared the lack of safety and lack of comforts of His gospel, but yet we still try to have both.

We think of safety when we think of placing our trust in situations and goods that we feel we can believe in. Air bags, front doors, alarm systems, guns……all ways to make us feel safe. Safety is marketed to us in car insurance commercials as they prey upon our fears of car accidents. Safety is marketed to us in alarm commercials as they take advantage of our fears of having someone break into our homes.

Ultimately, no matter how many possessions we have, no matter how much wealth, no matter how much safety we feel, we must acknowledge that as believers in Christ we can only rely on God to protect us. And if He chooses for us the path of suffering, we must trust in Him.

It worries me when believers embrace material goods and comforts and claim that Jesus is ok with it. It worries me when believers brush off clear teachings in scripture because it’s not safe to follow them in today’s world, which suggests that God didn’t know that it wouldn’t be safe to follow His teachings in the 21st century.

How can we follow a Savior who loved so recklessly and lived so differently that He was killed for it, and think that safety is our right as Christians? How can we justify not living our Savior’s teachings in scripture because they are unsafe? Jesus told us that people would know that we were His disciples by our obedience to His teachings, not by our safety. When safety and security are more important than obedience, we have missed the heart of our God.

But no one is talking about this cultural ideal that has mixed with our faith. And Christians spend their time being limited and bound by their fears and their desire for safety that they believe is a God-given right. All the while, they attend church, study the Bible and follow a Savior who declares how unsafe it is to follow God.

Job, Moses, Noah, Jeremiah, Paul, Peter, James, John…..pick a name. Pick a prophet. Pick a saint. Ask them how safe it is.

30,000 Kids a Day, times 2 = ?

Christians for a long time have defined themselves by what they do not do. For many evangelicals this means that they have come out of a church background that reminds them that they aren’t to drink, smoke, gamble, sleep around, etc. But more often than not, the church has been so busy telling them what they shouldn’t be doing that they haven’t also emphasized those things that they should be acting out.

It comes down to the biblical teaching on sin. There traditionally have been considered two types of sin by theologians throughout church history-sins of commission (acts that go against God’s character) and sins of omission (not acting in a situation where God’s Word would have us act).

For many believers, it’s easy to make sure that we aren’t doing (committing) those things that are sinful. But it makes people uncomfortable to talk to them about the parts of the gospel that they aren’t doing (omitting). No one wants to hear about the things that they aren’t doing well-we all want to hear about the stuff that we have already mastered.

When a church has traditionally been strong on points of righteousness and truth, they have been emphasizing the biblical commandments against commission of sin. Most think of fundamentals and evangelicals in this category, who choose to enter the public and political arena to debate morality in areas of abortion and homosexuality. Like William Wilberforce, who chose to use his life fighting to outlaw slavery, these believers are doing battle to stop the commission of sin in our country.

When a church has traditionally been strong on points of justice and mercy, they have been emphasizing the biblical ideals of acting in a positive way as Christ would in a situation-not omitting the act of love, mercy or justice (yes, this should also include confrontation of sin). Most think of liberals and progressives in this category, main-line churches and denominations that try to do good deeds in the name of Jesus. Like Mother Teresa, who chose to give her life in loving the poor and oppressed in Calcutta, these believers are passionate about the acts that believers should be living out.

This is the testing ground for churches as we move deeper into the 21st century. The question isn’t if your church is cool enough, trendy enough, or if it has great music and media. The question has now become, can you balance the two? Can you be just as concerned about the poor and oppressed as you are about the unborn and the gays? Can you be just as concerned about living a holy life as you are about the AIDS victims in Africa? Because in the end, it isn’t an either/or issue. It’s a both/and issue.

30,000 kids are dying each day from starvation-a completely preventable problem. And 30,000 kids are being aborted on average every day worldwide-a completely preventable problem. And because we are believers who value life-both of these statistics should hurt our heart because of the sanctity of life. Unfortunately, most churches have chosen only one of these problems to care about while ignoring the other. I hope that you will see the injustice in both-the results of the sins of commission and omission.