SAFE is a Four Letter Word

As I was driving home from work the other day, I overheard an advertisement for a Christian Radio station. It was a pretty typical testimonial style ad where different people weighed in on why they enjoyed the particular radio station so as to convince others to listen to it. As a seminary student, I'm trained to listen for repetition of words as an indicator of theme or emphasis. So as a good seminary student, I applied the principle to the ad.The word repeated more than any other word describing the Christian Radio station was 'safe'. The station was 'safe for kids,' 'safe listening at work,' safe for the morning drive,' etc. As I thought about it more, the term 'safe' and 'Christian' seems to be a pretty common combination. Christian schools are safe schools. Christian music is safe music. Christian movies, safe movies. Christian youth groups, safe youth groups. I think you get the point.There is a way in which it is wise to be safe. We don't let children (or adults for that matter) run around with scissors. We don't build a house in a war zone or let a 'pet' tiger live in our house. However, this is not the way the word 'safe' is being used with regards to Christianity and it makes me wonder: If Christianity is described as safe, is that an accurate description of Christ as well?Some verses to consider:

““Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” (Matthew 10:16 ESV)

““Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” (Matthew 10:34 ESV)

“but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger;” (2Corinthians 6:4–5 ESV)

“But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering” (Hebrews 2:9–10 ESV)

The impression I get from the Gospels and Epistles is that Christ is anything but 'safe'. Christ is dangerous, constantly putting himself in harm's way for the sake of doing the will of His Father and proclaiming the coming of the kingdom. Christ, if we recall, was put to death because of the confrontations he had with the leading religious leaders of the day.

His disciples shared a similar path. Paul describes being beaten, shipwrecked, stoned, imprisoned for the sake of the gospel. He was ultimately beheaded in Rome. Peter was crucified upside down. James was thrown off the roof of the Jerusalem temple.

So why do we insist on Christian things being safe? 

If God is not 'safe' in the sense of withdrawing from the dangers of the world and retreating from the opposition of sin in our present reality, then why is that the predominant term describing Christian culture in America? Ironically, in an attempt to protect ourselves from the four-letter words prevalent in 'non-Christian' institutions, we have created a four-letter word far more offensive to the nature of Christ.

Here is my prayer:

• That Christian schools would not be known for it's safeness but for its risky engagement of culture and dangerous promotion of gospel and shalom in the secular world.
• That Christian music and art would fearlessly dive into the hurt of sin, the antithetical conversations of the culture, and the offensive redemption of the world through Christ instead of floundering in the sterile environment of safe moralism.
• That Christian churches would be known for running towards the dangerous needs of a dying world and not for disengaging to form a parallel culture safe from the intrusion of those Christ called us to love.

A safe Christian is a Christian living in direct opposition to the character of Christ and the history of his followers. Safe is a fowl four-letter word.