Life As a Believer: Are You Trying to Play It Safe?

It is easy to play it safe when it comes to our faith, because our illness causes enough upheaval in our lives. But Lisa asks, “What are the consequences?”

“Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.” (Romans 12:11)

Living with illness is such a time of survival. One of our biggest challenges is to try to prevent ourselves from getting stuck in survival mode the rest of our life–since these illnesses are considered chronic. We so long to just live comfortably. . . without pain that we forget that it is when we are uncomfortable that God can bet shine through us. While we may believe we should do more for God than play it safe, taking those steps is hard to get enthusiastic about.

In the video below, pastor Frances Chan shares how many of us are living a safe life. He explain, as Christians, we spend our time with God during devotionals, we go to church, we try to keep the influences of the world away from our kids, and just stay comfortable.

There are a few laugh-out-loud moments as he grabs a hold of the balance beam and hangs on, only to jump off and do the finishing stance for the “judges” as our athletes do in the Olympics. I hope you will take a few minutes to watch this video because it has an encouraging message. (Can’t see the video? If you are receiving this by email, the video will not show up. Just click the link of the TITLE of the POST and it will take you directly to our web site so you can watch it there.)

So let me ask, are you radical for God? Do you stand up for what you believe, even though Facebook friends may give you an earful? When you doctor says, “How do you remain so hopeful?” do you quietly respond, “my faith,” and end the conversation or do you tell him how Jesus makes a difference in your life every day? It is hard to be radical, isn’t it?

Living radical for God isn’t easy. We have so much on our plate already! Don’t we deserve to just play it safe and not cause more problems? If we are living radically for God, we put ourself into situations where we can be ridiculed, we can lose friends, we can have our children tell us we are old-fashioned. We may have scripture memorized, but never apply it to our life. We may go to church, but never work on creating real relationships with people. And when we live with pain we are careful about stirring up trouble.

We don’t want to add drama to our life or start more disagreements when we feel we cannot win. That isn’t good for our body or our mental health. And yet, living a life where we play it safe–well, is there more to life than just survival?

What does living radical for God look like in your life? It is a question I am asking myself. We can’t all be missionaries in foreign countries, but our illness does put us into many places where we can allow God to have the glory and shine!

Prayer: Lord, I know You do not need my help in saving the world. At the same time, I know great joy and Your pleasure comes when I do more than just play it safe. I pray You will put me into the position where You want me to be and give me a spiritual nudge when I need to step out and be radical for You. Amen.

About the author:
Lisa Copen is the founder of Rest Ministries and she lives in San Diego with her husband and son. She is gradually learning how to balance motherhood, family, illness, and ministry, but she still knows it will be a lifetime lesson. You can see the books she has written, including, Why Can’t I Make People Understand? at the Rest Ministries shop.

Pastor Francis Chan shares about how we may live on that balance beam in life. Watch it here (you won’t forget it!)