July 15, 2009
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Personal Safety
What is there about safety that is so attractive?
Benjamin Franklin was a through Deist, and not a Christian; but he said something like this: "Those who would sacrifice liberty for safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
James 1:25 tells Christians "But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the {law} of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does."
As a Christian, there is no place more safe than in the center of the will of God. That may put me in a place the world does not consider "safe," but rather
Jesus said:
18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. 21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me. John 15:18-21 (KJV)
Paul taught us:
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35-39 (KJV)
If we are “saved,” are we then “safe?” Defining safety in a way that makes us draw back from engaging evil means that evil wins, because the Evil One never draws back, unless we resist him. Defining safety in as being in the center of God’s will means that no one and no thing can separate us from the love of God. That does not mean that I do not suffer pain or persecution, it means that when the world, and the Evil One, has done all that it can, I am still loved by God and that I remain safe and saved.
Comments (4)
I like your point. It's in how you define "safety". I know a guy who won't accept Christ because "you can't prove Christianity is the only way" and he's afraid of being wrong. By his definition, he is "safe" - but it's a false safety. Nothing in the world is safe. Only in Christ is true safety found. Thank you for the reminder
~ L
Dad, you're awesome. I've been thinking about this topic incessantly for several months now, but it's always good to see affirmation in Scripture.
@empress8411 - There's a blaring flaw in your friend's logic. By making no choice, he puts himself on the "bad side" of every major world religion. He isn't on the winning side no matter which one is right.
Your friend's thinking is much like the thinking of those who say "all religions reach the top of the mountain, they just take different paths to get there." In reality, this line is just an excuse for indecision, because the vast majority of these people follow NONE of the paths! And where does that leave them? They're still at the base of the mountain!
There is also the paradox of seeking "proof". The very claim of Christianity is that we must have faith. But if we had proof, we would have no need for faith. Also, since God is supernatural, He is not confined to the realm of natural science, and therefore science lacks the tools necessary to bottle God in some kind of test tube. I think it was C.S. Lewis that said "if God was small enough that we could prove His existence, He wouldn't be big enough to worship."
And yet, in spite of said unavailability of proof as such, we do have so much evidence that to deny Christ is folly. The Bible claims that Jesus rose from the dead. Since no other explanation has been offered that can withstand even a cursory evaluation, by process of elimination we can believe in the Resurrection. And if the Resurrection can be believed, then Jesus' claim to have "all authority in heaven and earth" can also be believed. With that, we have everything we need for salvation: "If you confess with your mouth 'Jesus is Lord', and believe in your heart God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."
On the topic of "safety", it has been my opinion for a long time that Christians still give death too much credit. Doesn't death have no victory? Doesn't the grave have no sting? Death is inevitable, the only difference between one person and another is when they will die and how they will die. So why do most of us have an almost single-minded focus on avoiding death, when really all we can do is postpone it? Instead, we should focus on living however much life we do have in preparation for the life that lies on the other side of death.
@BloodTypo - I agree. Proof makes Faith unneccesary. Faith requires a certain amount of courage - the courage to step out and say, I can not prove this, but I believe anyway. I
t has been my experince that those who claim "there are many ways to the moutain top" are those who are afriad to commit to anything, and so commit to nothing, which leaves them at the mercy of their own emotions and fear.
I also agree that we give Death to much power. Everyone dies. No one escapes. Our only choice is how we live - in fear, or in Christ. ~ L
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