Articles Music WDYL

Unsafe Christianity Not for the faint of heart by Carrie Francis As a Christian nation, we've forgotten some key things. We choose to ignore the less "nice" parts of Jesus. We'd like to think of Jesus as something warm and fuzzy and safe. In Talladega Nights, Will Farrell's character keeps praying to "Dear, Sweet Baby Jesus" because "that's the 'Jesus' he likes best." We are tricked into wanting something safe, comfortable, easy. But Jesus was harsher than that. He grew up from the "dear sweet baby" into a confrontational, radical teacher. When Jesus sent out his disciples in pairs, he told them that if any town didn't welcome them, they should shake the dust off of their feet as they left as a testimony against the people there. Even if the people were "good people" or "moral people," it wasn't enough. We like to have this view that "all good people go to heaven," but that's not true. In one of Jesus' strongest, harshest, and most politically incorrect statements, He tells us that He is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the only way to God, and no one else comes to the Father except through the Son (John 14:6). There is only one way to God and to Heaven, and that one way is Jesus Christ. This has never been a popular idea. Jesus was crucified for saying things like this. All but one of his original disciples (not counting Judas Iscariot) was killed for spreading this faith, and John was exiled to a small island to die there. Judas was looking for a spectacular, sudden coming of the Kingdom of God and ended up killing himself when he realized his error. But even Judas' betrayal of Jesus was part of God's plan. Jesus had to die for us to be forgiven, blood had to be shed, a sacrifice had to be made. What kind of God is it, then, that we serve, who would not spare His own Son from an excruciating death? It is a God of love and mercy who is willing to do whatever it takes to win us to Him, to persuade us to love Him, and to love Him radically by radical submission to His will and a supernatural reliance on His strength to serve His people, our neighbors. There's a line in C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe talking about the character (a lion) who represents Jesus. The children are supposed to go with him, and a little girl asks, "Is he safe?" The reply is given, "Safe? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good ..." The Bible never promises us safety or security when we choose to follow Christ and commit our lives to Him. In fact, it promises plenty of hardship. Jesus himself tells us that we, as servants of our Master, should not expect to be treated better than He was (see John 15:18-21). Paul writes in several of his letters about being beaten, whipped, starved, stoned and left for dead, thrown in prison, stranded at sea, and the list goes on. Following Jesus isn't safe, but we follow and trust Him because He is good. Even today, in some countries Christians risk their lives just by having faith. Last summer there were 41 people in one South Asian nation on trial for showing a film about Jesus. They knew they were risking their lives from the beginning, so why on earth would they do that? You won't find a reason on earth; they did it because of God's great love and mercy, because of Christ's sacrifice, and because of the strength, courage, and boldness the Spirit gave them. This God we serve isn't safe, but He's good, and He has the power to radically, supernaturally change our lives and our hearts if we'll let Him work in and through us.