Safety Isn't First

Recently in my devotional time I was praying about how I don't want to just be like any other missionary, any other Christian, I want to make my mark, be bold, a force to be reckoned with. Not just do missions work for the sake of work. In fact I realized I don't even know how to live another life other than a "Christian" life because there was never a time when I didn't know who Jesus was. (It's so refreshing to have an identity crisis every few months, it keeps you on your toes.) How do life long Christians live like this?! Well, many of us live inside the borders of "normal" and "safe" and "logical". I remember back when I went on my first missions trip to Bolivia in 2008. I was so nervous and everyone was reassuring me, "The safest place to be is inside the will of God." I took that as literal, physical safety, everything would be alright I would be safe, but really is that how we are to live? Safe?

I think of the quote from The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S Lewis when the siblings are asking the Beavers about Aslan, “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
When did Jesus ever promise us we would be safe? He actually warned us about quite an opposite lifestyle of hunger, torture and death all in His name. 
Christians in the middle east certainly aren't safe, and I guarantee as they continue to be obedient to God they are completely inside his will and glorifying him in the midst of horrific persecution. 

We, Church, are living in safety, within the idea of logic. We claim to give our lives to a slain King who rose again from the dead three days later who then went back into heaven 40 days later and said he would come back for us. That's not logical, it doesn't make sense. Explaining the Gospel makes no sense to those who have never heard it before and yet we call it beautiful. However if God calls us to something radical, we sit back in our chairs and think, "could this be?" 

During our Ilumina youth conference a few weeks ago, on the last night of the conference we had a night we call the "Unforgettable Night". We did a reenactment of the persecution that Christians receive all over the world. After dragging our campers out of bed around midnight with (fake) guns and torches and then "murdering" people who professed the name of Jesus, Gallo asked them a loaded question. "Who is willing to live their lives for Jesus, not just with your words or actions but with your whole life?" The majority of the youth made a declaration that night they are willing to risk everything for Jesus. 
Jesus was thought of as crazy, a lunatic really. Wouldn't we all rather be called a lunatic by the world than be told "I never knew you" in eternity. Let's stop looking at safety and comfort as our priority and start living a life worthy of the death of a King. All we need is a mustard seed of faith to step out.