Two years ago my wife and I went through a very difficult situation involving our housing. Finding affordable housing (affordable being relative) in Los Angeles is always a tall order, but at the time the difficulty was enhanced by a housing crisis.
We got caught in a situation where we were losing our current rental and only a matter of days away from being homeless. Due to circumstances beyond our control and some misplaced trust we found ourselves without a new home to rent. In our case losing our home also meant the very real possibility of losing our child. The stakes couldn’t have been higher.
Unfortunately, we reacted out of fear. We made a bad decision. There were no good choices so we chose to play it safe. Instead of trusting we were fearful.
Why don’t you play it safe, Moses?
Moses is the hero of the Jewish people. He’s the fearless leader who saved them from slavery. But he didn’t start out that way. He started out as a criminal on the run from the law. He started out as a murderer trying to escape his past.
He went from being the crown prince of Egypt to being a lowly shepherd on the backside of the desert. He was hiding in the shadows. He was playing it safe. Then God showed up in the form of a burning bush and told him to go back to the very people he was on the run from. The same people he was hiding from. God told him to stop playing it safe.
Why don’t you play it safe, Esther?
Esther was an orphan girl who got lucky. In fact, she got lucky twice. First, after the tragedy of losing her parents, she was lucky enough to be adopted into a great family. Then she won a beauty pageant where the winner was crowned as the new queen. It was kind of like an ancient episode of The Bachelor, but instead of a rose the winner got a crown.
While she was on the throne, an evil racist put together a plan to exterminate the queen’s race, not knowing her heritage. Esther’s people found themselves on the brink of extermination. Esther was safe inside her palace, but her people weren’t so lucky. They needed her to intervene.
Esther had two choices: Play it safe and live, or risk everything to try to save her people. You know the story. You know which choice she made. And the reason you know is because she chose not to play it safe. History forgets people who play it safe. Esther didn’t. And history will always remember Esther for her bravery.
Why don’t you play it safe, Corrie?
The ten Booms were a Dutch Christian family who lived in Europe during the holocaust. They felt God telling them to save Jews who needed to be hidden from the Nazi regime.
In her fascinating book entitled The Hiding Place, one of the ten Boom daughters, named Corrie, tells how the family ended up taking in and hiding the Jews that were too old or sick or for some other reason unable to sneak out of the country. The family saved many lives by hiding Jews in their home, but eventually they were caught and placed in a concentration camp. Corrie’s father and sister died in the camp, only Corrie lived through the end of the war.
The ten Booms could have played it safe. They could have kept their heads down and lived their lives. But they didn’t. Fear told them to play it safe. But God told them to live uncomfortably.
Dozens of lives were saved because they chose not to play it safe.
Why don’t you play it safe?
Now, to be fair and balanced, I’d like to tell a few stories about people who played it safe and were remembered for doing great things. I want to share a couple of stories about times when God told someone to play it safe and they changed the world.
First there’s, uh…
Well, there’s that one time…
Hmmm…
Turns out there isn’t a story like that. God doesn’t tell people to play it safe. History doesn’t remember anyone who plays it safe. Great stories are not told about people who refuse to take a risk. You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone God used to change the world who wasn’t first asked to stop playing it safe.
History doesn’t remember anyone who stayed close to home, who stayed comfortable, who stayed safe. As far as I can tell God never used anyone that way. I challenge you to find one time in all of the Bible where God told someone to play it safe. Or one time in history when someone is honored and remembered for playing it safe. I bet you can’t do it.
To be clear, when I talk about risk I’m not talking about playing the lottery or gambling your rent money on a long shot to win the NBA finals. That’s not risk, that’s irresponsible. What I’m talking about is living in the risky area outside your comfort zone. What I’m talking about is refusing to play it safe with your life.
Turns out refusing to play it safe is scary but necessary. It’s difficult but demanded. It’s unnatural but very needed.
But here’s the catch, when God tells you to stop playing it safe, the only safe thing you can do is stop playing it safe. Trust me. It’s a lesson I had to learn the hard way.
Better sorry than safe.
Interestingly, only days before I was set to post this blog we got a phone call. On the other end of the line was a very scary opportunity not to play it safe. The odds on this one are higher then ever. Does God give second chances? It seems like he does. But this time our decision was pre-made. Sayonara safety.
