Thought for Today
Psalm 37:28 For the LORD loves justice; he will not forsake his faithful ones. The righteous shall be kept safe forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
Proverbs 18:10 The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run into it and are safe.
Luke 11:21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his castle, his property is safe.
Jude 1:1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, who are beloved in God the Father and kept safe for Jesus Christ:
Where do you feel safe? Under what circumstances do you feel safe? Do you ever feel safe? Do you ever even think about safety and/or being safe? Good questions all!
One of the first considerations in thinking about those questions is to define our terms. A web browser search yielded: “safe: noun (1) protected from or not exposed to danger or risk; not likely to be harmed or lost; (2) derogatory – cautious and unenterprising; (3) based on good reasons or evidence and not likely to be proved wrong; (4) uninjured; with no harm done.” (MS Edge & Bing)
I’m thinking this morning mostly of definitions 1 & 4 and thinking about physical, mental and spiritual safety. Although, admittedly, as a Christian minister, I feel great safety in (3) based on good reasons or evidence and not likely to be proved wrong! Believing in and preaching from the inspired word of the Creator of Creation does lend one a definite sense of safety in that sense.
Many new homes today are built with alarm systems already installed. Many others have installed alarm systems in their existing homes. There are many options available on these systems. They can include motion sensors, motion operated cameras, constant operation cameras, etc. There are other non-electronic ways of increasing one’s home safety; dead bolt locks, hinge pins, solid wood or even metal doors, etc. Any or all of these can help increase our sense of safety within our own abodes. There is, however, one caveat, you must actually arm your alarm system; you must actually install those dead bolt locks and other devices. In one neighborhood where we lived, every house was built with an alarm system, but only about 25% of us actually even armed our systems, and even fewer had their systems monitored remotely.
How do we protect our mental and spiritual safety? There are no alarm systems we can install . . . although maybe some day there will be an app we can download or some AI device we can rely on. There are currently smartphones and smartwatches which will monitor and track our sleep patterns, our blood pressure and other health metrics. But where can we share our thoughts, our questions, our concerns and our doubts safely? Where can we speak openly and freely, without fear of ridicule, derision or even condemnation?
One of my favorite themes in ministry is the idea of our being a family of faith. Often during worship, I speak of our congregation being a family, not a family of physical DNA, but a family of faith DNA. We set aside a designated time in every worship service for prayers. We are encouraged to share the joys, cares and concerns in our lives. We offer our prayers to the Father of our family of faith, to our Creator God. We offer them also to our faith-family members, sharing in the safe environment of our worship service.
I thought about this last night during our Bible Study. We always use a Bible passage as the basis for our discussions. But, quite often, our discussions range widely as we ponder on that passage. Sometimes we pursue ‘rabbit trails.’ Sometimes we end up far distant from where we began. Allowing the freedom to safely pursue where each passage leads us ultimately brings us closer to God, closer to a full understanding of the Bible and of our faith. I am firmly convinced that feeling and actually being safe to ask our questions and share our doubts and concerns is critical for our spiritual growth and safety. I remind myself and others that the only bad questions are the ones you don’t ask. Equally, the only bad concerns or ideas are the ones you don’t offer up for discussion within your family of faith.
We learn through asking questions. We learn through listening to each other, to all of our siblings in our family of faith. We learn through seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit . . . and we grow closer to God by applying what we have learned to be true.
Stay safe, ask and you will receive, trust God,
Pastor Ray