When Trusting Jesus Isn’t Safe

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about safety and comfort. I’m generally easy-going, positive, and probably a bit naive about dangers that others readily perceive. So I’m not typically over-concerned about my own personal safety. Even so, I’m realizing that safety and comfort are such ingrained values of our culture that they put up huge barriers to trusting and following Jesus.

If I truly trusted Jesus and was willing to follow Him anywhere, where would He ask me to go? Who would he ask me to tell about the gospel? Those questions scare me. When I reflect on Jesus’ life, safety and comfort seem to not even be on his list of priorities. He had one purpose: to do the will of His Father.

“For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.” (John 6:38)

Jesus makes it clear that we are to follow Him and that our purpose must be the same as His.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21)

Jesus showed us by His life the heart of God. He loved the broken, the hurting, the widow, the orphan, the sinner, the refugee, the neglected, the reviled, the poor. Jesus calls us to be light shining the darkness, telling the world about the peace and love of God that can be found in Him.

I have a safe and comfortable life. The city next to mine has one of the highest crime rates in the country. The broken, the hurting, the widow, the orphan, the sinner, the refugee, the neglected, the reviled, the poor all live near me. My neighbors need to hear the Good News. I mostly avoid them. This is my greatest regret and my greatest fear. I pray that Jesus will break down the barriers in my heart and give me courage to follow Him wherever He asks me to go.