Comfortable and Safe

Recently I was reading from The Cost of Discipleship, when Dietrich Bonhoeffer said something that really caught my attention. He was discussing discipleship and how Jesus has called us to follow Him. He started talking about the rich young ruler and his exchange with Jesus. The rich young ruler goes up to Jesus and says, "Good Master" what must I do to get into heaven. Jesus takes this opportunity to immediately point towards the Father by saying that only God is good. Bonhoeffer makes the point here that the rich young ruler may at this point realize that he is not talking to simply a teacher of the law, but to the very Son of God. Before him stands the Almighty God who stepped down from Heaven so that we could better understand God and be reconciled with Him. This is one of the facts that I have to be reminded of occasionally because when I am reminded of it, I am shaken out of my complacency and stirred back into devotion. I fear, however, that I am not alone in this struggle.

There have been many people over the years who have told us that Jesus was just a good person or was a great moral teacher. C.S. Lewis said it well in Mere Christianity when he said, "A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse." So why when we claim that Jesus was the Son of God are we not convicted? Jesus had all the power in the Universe being one with the Father. He left that and became both human and God and walked among us. Too often we get comfortable with this. Sure we can stick up for Jesus when someone says that he was just a good person. It is our way of proverbially telling Jesus we have His back. Unfortunately, our words often stop at just that, words. Let the idea that Jesus was and is God sink in. Let it really change the way you look at the world.

It has been snowing for the last couple days. It falls gently to the ground and I comfortably watch it from a nice leather chair. I may get up and go outside to shovel the snow, but will soon be back inside to enjoy the warmth and safety of the house. I'm comfortable and safe here. I wonder what Jesus would do during this time. I imagine that He would be out helping someone. Perhaps he'd be down at the shelter helping people stay warm, or perhaps He'd be turning water into Chicken soup. He'd be especially concerned for the fringe of society during this time and He calls us to follow Him. You see Jesus isn't really concerned about comfort or safety. His call is a dangerous one, where if you follow it you're never sure where you might end up. It's rare that He allows us to stay in our comfort zone. He wants us to rely on Him in order that we might show our devotion to Him. Sure we need to spend time alone with Him to relax and recharge, but we are also called to love recklessly. We are told to die to ourselves, a call that would sound absurd except for the fact that when we do so we become more of ourselves.

There are many churches out there that have done a great job at proclaiming the Gospel and showing people Jesus through the actions that they've taken in the community and around the world. We're called to more though. Our lives are to be in constant devotion to Jesus. We can't allow ourselves to slip into complacency when it comes to our relationship with Jesus. He is God and deserves our Love and devotion. We must follow Him and to boldly go where He calls us no matter the cost for as Lewis says, "He isn't safe, but He is good."