Is this a time to be safe?

Is this a question you have asked yourself lately - Is this a time to be safe? These are very uncertain times. Should we be hunkering down and in to withstand the storm? What about in a spiritual sense, is this a time to be safe?

I do not believe this is a time to be safe spiritually at all! That would be the easy thing to do, wouldn't it. It would be easy to lock yourself inside the house and block off the world. But this is not a time to play it safe. Many, many doors are being opened to the Christian community if we would just look around and see them for what they are. We need to be literally jumping off of our couches; running through our doors and through the doors God has opened for us. Governmental agencies, schools, secular community agencies ..... are for whatever their particular reason, are reaching out to the Christian community for answers and help. The doors have swung open and what are we going to do about it. This is not a time to play if safe in the middle, but to be out on the edge for Christ and the Kingdom. Is it sometimes risky or uncomfortable to be out on the edge? Absolutely it is, but the reward and the harvest can be huge.

On this National Day of Prayer, we should all be praying fervently and with great expectation. But what is prayer without action? The book of James 2:14-17 says, "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action is dead."

We obviously need to pray in all situations, but more importantly, we need to get out and do something about it.

- have your neighbors or friends over for dinner, regardless of how your house looks.
- the person with the dead battery in the parking lot, get out your cables and jump his car.
- let the person beside you on the freeway in your lane when his blinker comes on.
- loan out your tools and your labor in your neighborhood, even proactively.
- give some money to some missions work that your hear about, make your lunch this year
instead of going out to cover the cost.
- work on the local community or missions projects and turn off the TV.
- look at each encounter with people as an opportunity that may have been placed in front of
you.

Lets not live comfortably and safe in the middle right now, lets get out and do something for Christ and the Kingdom - love them until they ask why!