Living On The Edge For Christ

Paul Kummer

True or False? The safest place to be is in the center of God’s will.

Of course, you say, isn’t that where God wants me to be? Not on the edge of His desires – too risky. Not outside His plan – simply sinful. You’re right if the emphasis is on the “center.” What if we asked: Is the center the SAFEST place to be?

Little David of Goliath-felling-fame was in God’s will when he faced the giant, but how safe was he? Brushing off the scorn of his older brothers, refusing to wear the king’s armor and facing an adversary twice his stature, which made more noise – his knocking knees or the rattling stones in his pouch? “Am I a dog that you come to me with a stick?” growled Goliath. With one swing of his sword David would be no more; with one smooth stone, the giant wasn’t! Was that battlefield safe?

Vicious felines breathing down his neck. Human carcasses dotting the landscape of the large pit. Chosen to be fast food for royal lions. Safe haven for Daniel? “Nice kitty,” he whispers, as miraculously they lay at his feet all night –not because they weren’t hungry, but because Daniel was dangerously secure!

“Safe” conjures up the notion of comfortableness or ease while God never promised us an easy passage. Safety can be misunderstood as a haven of no tension, pain or conflict. Yet Jesus himself – speaking to those walking in his will –said “in this world you will have trials and troubles, but cheer up, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). You might not be safe, but I’ll make you wonderfully and dangerously secure!

Five times flogged severely, three times beaten with rods, once stoned (with rocks, not drugs), three times shipwrecked, in danger from rivers, bandits, and his own countrymen, knowing hunger and thirst, being cold and naked, Paul didn’t live a safe missionary life. “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it . . . but even if he does not . . we will not serve your gods” said the three boys as they walked in God’s will into the furnace. Ask my sister Julie, who smuggles Bibles and study materials into communist China or better yet, ask the underground pastors to whom she delivers the goods – prison, poisoning and running for their lives yet their secure attitude is: All they can take from me is my earthly life!

Are we so familiar with Christ that we practice safe boundaries so we’re not disappointed, instead of stepping out of the safe zone into exploits that only God can accomplish? Do we really believe HE can do anything so WE can entertain godly risks daily? Teacher Beth Moore says that our calling is to awake each morning and bring pleasure to God by saying “Yes, Lord!” and then live out the rest of the day discovering what His directions are. That might be wonderfully dangerous, but we’ll be divinely secure! We might contend that we are willing to die for Christ’s sake, but are we willing to live – really live! – for Him?

The one who never walked out of God’s will discovered that wasn’t the safest place to live. His enemies tried to kill Him as a two year old. They attempted to murder Him at age thirty for preaching and healing and loving the unloved. Finally, they did beat Him, nail Him, stab Him and extinguished His life. The dangerously secure life of Christ, whom God brought back from the dead, is not only a model for our existence, but the source of our power for the exciting foray into living on the edge, in the center of His will, for the furtherance of Jesus’ life!

Where is God calling you to go? What is he nudging you to do? Fear will keep you safe, satisfied and stifled. Comfortableness will keep you from stepping out and prevent you from being all that God wants you to be. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego depended upon the faithfulness of God to keep them secure: “When you walk through the fires, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze” (Isaiah 43:2). Paul was perplexed but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8, 9) because underneath him were the “everlasting arms.” Daniel received “authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy” (Luke 10:19). And the martyrs in China found their ultimate security when they woke up in the heavenly arms of Jesus!

What exploit can you and Jesus attempt this week that might not be safe, but wonderfully, dangerously secure? Remember: The will of God will not lead you where the grace of God cannot keep you!

Paul W. Kummer

821N. Lakeside Dr.

Destin, FL 32541-2039

glc@gracedestin.com