Yesterday I wrote about how God is not a safe, tame God, but how he is always good. Since then, I've been thinking more about this, and the implications on us.
As Christians, we are called to follow where God leads, to go to the places where he would go, to speak to the people he wants to speak to, to spread his Good News, to baptise and to make disciples of all peoples. The exact out-working of that is going to be different for all of us, because we each have different skills, abilities and understandings, but the call is there for us all. Now for me, this is a clear example of God not calling us to a place of safety, to a life of ease, or to a cozy inward looking Christian huddle.
The thing is, getting out there, spreading the Gospel, is always going to be dangerous to us in someway. The degree and type of danger varies depending on where we are led to be, but its always there. There are some obvious examples - for instance those called to mission work in countries hostile to the gospel - in China, in Iran and other parts of the Middle East for example. People called to mission there live with the ever present reality of physical danger, of threats to the liberty or even their life if they overstep the mark set by the authorities, and yet God calls and they follow...
Others are called to put their life and health at risk, and also to risk their emotional well-being, by showing God's love for each and every individual, caring for those with life threatening or terminal conditions - working with AIDs patients, working in Malaria clinics etc. and I really don't envy them - the threat to their health is bad enough, but the emotional turmoil of working in such an environment is something I don't think I could face.
But what about those of us called to live a more "normal" life (at least as our culture and society sees it)? After all, I would say that my calling (at present at least) is two-fold - to be a Christian influence in the world of work and to serve my local church to enable God's work there.
I'm pleased to say that neither of these directly threatens my life, my health or my liberty (although I admit to feeling fairly vulnerable sat in the mile and a quarter queue trying to leave the motorway this morning). But the dangers I face are more subtle... the dangers of complacency, and with it the belief that it is me that is achieving things, that is moving on, that is making a difference, and the danger of complicity - that of falling into the trap of being too much "of the world", rather than being in the world but not of it. I find living a "normal life" and still trying to do God's will is like trying to walk a tightrope... and it certainly isn't a comfortable and easy place to be.
It almost seems negative to view things this way, but the truth of the matter is that even though God calls us out, and expects us to stand in dangerous places, he doesn't call us to do it alone. He promises that he will go with us, and that he will never ask us to face a situation without giving us the resources to cope with it. And in doing so, he gives us the opportunity and privilege of sharing in his great works - the chance to be a small part of something that will change the world. And that makes it pretty exciting!
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