There are safer ways to live than being a Christian.

Well... Let me start by saying, the more I get to know Jesus, the more trouble he seems to get me into. Some might say, "Jesus, a troublemaker?" And, I suppose it would depend on how you're looking at the word trouble, but I would argue that, YES! Jesus is most definitely one for instigating trouble. Now, I'm not talking about the kind of trouble where you mishit a baseball through your neighbor's window or you have the IRS on your tail for unpaid taxes. I'm talking about this kind of trouble:

t

rou·ble

   [truhb-uhl] 
2: to make an effort: be at pains.
And do you know why we can make an effort, why we can be at pains?


Because we serve a God that went to the ULTIMATE trouble, when he gave his only Son to die in OUR place. 


And, he only left us a few simple tasks! Now that's the kind of God I want to serve. When you make that comparison:
It kind of makes "loving your neighbor as yourself" not so troublesome.
It kind of makes feeding the homeless seem simple. 
It makes loving and visiting the widows and orphans in this world, less like work, and more like a privilege. 

Jesus didn't live a safe, trouble-free life, and he didn't call us to do that either.


Shane Claiborne said it well when he wrote:
“So if the world hates us, we take courage that it hated Jesus first. If you're wondering whether you'll be safe, just look at what they did to Jesus and those who followed him. There are safer ways to live than by being a Christian.” 
― Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical


Jesus didn't call us to safety. He called us to a radical, different way of living. That call looks different for everyone, because we all have different skill-sets. If you think about, it doesn't exactly feel "safe" to approach the stranger at the grocery store who you just "feel" you need to talk to. It does take effort to not cheat on your next test or tell that little white-lie. God has designed each of us in a unique way, and only you know what that means for your life.


For us, Mexico is our call to make a little extra effort. 

What is yours?


--Whitney