Earlier this week I heard a missionary tell of his work in Africa. I loved listening to him and I think he does amazing work. He repeatedly brought up, though, how Americans were being targeted, kidnapped and held hostage in nearby areas, but American churches were paying large sums of money to buy their release. I remember thinking, “Hmmm. Isn’t that just fueling the fire, enabling groups to do more of the same?” But that’s another subject, maybe, for another time.
It got me to thinking, though, about the inherent dangers involved in mission work. Missionaries know that there is serious danger in that kind of work. To a large extent, that is exactly why I appreciate them. But the know the dangers are more than hypothetical, they are real, and yet still they go. But what should happen when the unthinkable actually happens?
If we will think about it, danger lurks around every corner, hides in virtually every crevass, and can happen anywhere. Danger can found on the Mexico border, in the African village, as well as on the suburban street corner. There is no escaping it. You can try, but it will be to no avail!
I don’t believe Jesus launched his mission into world so that we might play it safe. What we refer to as The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) wasn’t a proposition to simply take the gospel to places where we’d be sheltered from harm. There was no caveat which stated: “Go into all the world..except for the high risk places.” After all, there really is no 100% safe place. Evil is everywhere and harm is indiscriminate about where it will emerge. If we only played it safe, we’d go nowhere. But for some reason, I don’t think, in our heart of hearts, we believe that’s the right thing to do.
Think about it…Daniel lived for God in the middle of a Babylonian firestorm of danger. He was in a foreign land, and yet he was open about his faith and devotion to God, even if it meant a front row seat a lion’s den or a fiery furnace. I know he was taken into captivity by force, but that didn’t change how he acted while there. It was in those situations that Daniel’s faith was exhibited, regardless of what would befall him. How comfortable would we feel telling Daniel our stories about how we didn’t go to the risky places because it was dangerous? Not me.
And then there’s Stephen in Acts 7. That guy was nuts to preach that kind of message, to that group of people, in that kind of place. Didn’t he know it might get him killed? Didn’t he know that he might better serve the cause of Christ by going on his way and finding a people to preach to who wouldn’t start chucking rocks at him? After all, he might die of such treatment. Err…he did die. But Stephen was outright foolish to do what he did, wasn’t he? But again, doesn’t it sound odd to suggest such? It does to me. After all, we extol martyrs. He loved the Lord and was willing to die for him. We are supposed to be “faithful” even if it might cost us our lives (Rev. 2:10). But what does it say about us if we only go where it is advantageous to us?
