Choose Life: Readings For Radical DisciplesSample

Adventure or Safety? 

Life has become so dull and safe for many of us. Risks, we are warned, should be avoided at all costs. Safety seems to have become the highest goal, and the worship of safety emasculates creativity and life. It seems that we can end up with our highest aspiration being to arrive safely at death! In a scenario of such suffocating dreariness, can we realistically hope for anything better?

Keith Johnson splits us into two groups when he asserts that “there are those who like to say ‘yes’, and there are those who prefer to say ‘no’. Those who say ‘yes’ are rewarded by the adventures they have; those who say ‘no’ are rewarded by the safety they attain.”

Saying “yes” to God’s call on your life doesn’t mean selling everything you have and moving to Africa. It doesn’t necessarily mean quitting your job, studies, or relationship. But what it absolutely does involve is a willingness to step out of your comfort zone. By definition, that is uncomfortable. However, we have a need for significance, an inbuilt longing for authenticity, and we know it makes sense to do so rather than embracing the staleness of the status quo. 

Andre Gide wrote that “one does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore.” Why don’t you try to spend a few minutes today with God to think about how or where he might be wanting to journey with you? Maybe your current circumstances prohibit radical changes. Maybe God just wants to tweak areas of your life rather than engage in whole-scale transformation. Seek him about it. Whatever the case, at the end of your life, you don’t want to have lots of regrets that you played it safe all the way and missed out on the adventures he was calling you to. Right?

Lord, help me to say “yes” rather than “no” to your call for my life, wherever that leads. Amen!