“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields – along with persecutions – and in the age to come eternal life” (Mark 10:29-30).
Did you see what Jesus did there? He snuck in persecutions. That wasn’t in the original list.
It is impossible to read the New Testament without seeing that persecution is par for the course for the Christian.
One of the Christianese phrases that irk me is “The safest place to be is in the center of the will of God.”
A couple of reasons why this phrase bothers me.
- This wasn’t true for Jesus. Jesus was absolutely in the center of the will of God and it led him straight to the cross.
- This wasn’t true for the disciples or the early church. They were in the center of the will of God and all of them were persecuted, imprisoned, and put to death for their faith in Jesus.
But, perhaps, the reason why this phrase irks me is because of the way our modern world understands the word “safe.” For us, safe means free from harm, risk, and danger. The carefree life.
Safe doesn’t always mean free from harm, risk and danger. Safe can also mean the best, most correct. Let me give you an example.
Corrie ten Boom’s sister, Betsie, was encouraging her with this hope while in Ravensbruck concentration camp. For Corrie and Betsie, the promise of safety in the center of God’s will was fleshed out in concentration camps during the Nazi holocaust of the Jews. And although Corrie lived to tell the story, Betsie died in the midst of it.
Clearly neither of them concluded that this expression conveyed a belief that God would keep them from suffering hardship and even death. Betsie’s statement was a declaration that to walk in the character of Christ is always the right choice, regardless of outcome or consequence.
The original call of Jesus was so simple, so clean, so clear: “Follow me.” He wants us to surrender our lives to him and follow him into the unknown. And if it means a life of suffering, hardship, and disappointment, it will be worth it because following Jesus is more powerful and more fulfilling than living with everything in the world minus him.
We understand clearly that we follow the God who chose the way of the Cross. If Jesus would not avoid the “place of the skull,” then we should not be surprised where he might lead us. If even he found Himself sweating blood at Gethsemane, then we should be certain we will stand at crisis moments where all we can do after asking for relief is declare, “Not my will, but Yours.”
Betsie ten Boom, as she lay dying in Ravensbruck concentration camp, turned to her sister Corrie and said, “We must tell them that there is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still. They will listen to us, Corrie, because we have been there.
Betsie, you are right. You are correct.
Praxis: Faith in Action 