Danger Redefined

A couple of dear friends have come to me, concerned that I am “putting myself out there” in a way that this not healthy or not safe. I take the counsel of others seriously in most matters, and so I prayed about and considered this possibility before I made my blog public to you this week.

I have wanted to write for several years now, and yet I feared that I might not yet be ready to do it in a way that was truly redemptive and not just reflective. I’m not concerned about “putting myself out there” in one sense, but I am concerned about putting myself out there without pointing to Christ. While I desire to say, "Far be it from me that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me," I have to also admit that the temptation is close at hand.

So I considered the evidence. My closest friend are praying like they never have before. I can see the changes in them (it’s so, so beautiful!). And all of these people, whom I hardly even know, are encouraging me with stories of the changes in their own hearts that are happening as a result of exalting truth in community. Cancer, infertility, miscarriage, depression—these are a few of the struggles about which others have contacted me. And as I talk with these brothers and sisters, I’m amazed at how similar the struggles really are.

Hebrews 2:14-15 says that Christ came to "deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery." In one way or another, this type of pain threatens to put us in bondage to death. No, most of our physical struggles do not end in death. But they force us into death's presence in a way that changes everything. It redefines danger and victory.

Consider these words from John Piper in Future Grace:

"Have you ever asked yourself how much addiction and personality dysfunction and disordered lifestyle may originate in the repressed fear of death? Very few people live their daily lives with the conscious fear of death in their minds. Yet [Hebrews 2:14-15] says that Christ came to die for people who 'through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.' There is something profound here. The point is not that people are enslaved to a constant, conscious fear of dying, but that they are enslaved to a thousand ways of avoiding this fear."

For those of you who wonder if it's safe for me to blog, remember that danger and victory are redefined for me now. The Lord has removed the shackles of physical comfort from my ankles. I am free from the comfort that whispers of immortality, and this is a precious freedom indeed. For when our mortality is in view, our concept of danger changes. Danger, for me, is found in trying to merely make myself comfortable instead of glorifying and magnifying God through the pain.

Nothing in my life feels safe or certain right now. Yet the Lord has a purpose for each and every trickle-down effect of this illness. So, as I think through what vocation and service and ministry mean now, I recall these words from 1 Chronicles 28:20: “Be strong and courageous and do it. Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed, for the Lord God, even my God, is with you. He will not leave you or forsake you, until all the work for the service of the house of the Lord is finished."