Mark Batterson - Not Safe: Discovering Gods Dangerous Plan for Your Life

ZONDERVAN

Not Safe

Copyright 2013 by Mark Batterson

Derived from material previously published in All In.

Abridged by Meredith Hinds

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Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

ISBN 978-0-310-63202-3 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-0-310-63203-0 (ebook)

Epub Edition April 2019 9780310632108

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Dedicated to the church I have the joy

and privilege of pastoringNational

Community Church, Washington, DC

CONTENTS

A century ago, a band of brave souls became known as one-way missionaries. Instead of suitcases, they packed their few earthly belongings into coffins. As they sailed out of port, they waved good-bye to everyone they loved, everything they knew. They knew theyd never return home.

A. W. Milne was one of those missionaries. He set sail for the New Hebrides in the South Pacific, knowing full well that the headhunters who lived there had martyred every missionary before him. His coffin was packed. For thirty-five years, he lived among that tribe and loved them. When he died, tribe members buried him in the middle of their village and inscribed this epitaph on his tombstone:

When he came there was no light.

When he left there was no darkness.

When did we start believing that God wants to send us to safe places to do easy things?

Jesus didnt die to keep us safe. He died to make us dangerous.

Faithfulness is not holding the fort. Its storming the gates of hell.

The will of God is not an insurance plan. Its a daring plan.

The complete surrender of your life to the cause of Christ isnt radical. Its normal.

Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death.

Pack your coffin.

I n the sixteenth century, the Renaissance astronomer Nicholas Copernicus challenged the belief that the earth was the center of the universe. Copernicus argued that the sun didnt revolve around the earth, but rather that the earth revolved around the sun. The Copernican Revolution turned the scientific world upside down.

Each one of us needs to experience our own Copernican Revolution. The paradigm shift happens when we come to terms with the fact that the world doesnt revolve around us.

When we are born into this world, were spoon-fed on the front end and diaper-changed on the back end. Its as if the entire world exists to meet our every need. And thats fine if you are a two-month-old baby. If youre twenty-two, its a problem!

Newsflash: You are not the center of the universe!

At its core, sinfulness is selfishness. Its enthroning yourselfyour desires, your needs, your plansabove all else. You may still seek God, but you dont seek Him first. You seek Him second or third or seventh. You may sing Jesus at the center of it all, but what you really want is for people to bow down to you as you bow down to Christ. Its a subtle form of selfishness that masquerades as spirituality, but its not Christ-centric. Its me-centric. I call it the inverted gospel.

WHOS FOLLOWING WHOM

Most people in most churches think they are following Jesus, but Im not so sure. The reality is this: they have invited Jesus to follow them. They call Him Savior, but theyve never surrendered to Him as Lord. And I was one of them. Trust me, I didnt want to go anywhere without Jesus right there behind me. But I wanted Jesus to follow me, to serve my purposes, to do my will.

It wasnt until I was a nineteen-year-old freshman at the University of Chicago that I had my Copernican Revolution. It started with this question: Lord, what do You want me to do with my life?

I got tired of calling the shots. I wasnt very good at playing God. I stopped trying to find myself and decided to seek God. I couldnt read His Word enough. I got up early to pray. I even fasted for the first time in my life. I meant business. For the first time in my life, I put Him first.

On the last day of summer vacation, I got up at the crack of dawn to do a prayer walk. Our family was vacationing at Lake Ida in Alexandria, Minnesota. The dirt road I walked down may as well have been the road to Emmaus. After months of asking, I finally got an answer to my question. I knew what God wanted me to do with my life.

On the first day of my sophomore year, I walked into the admissions office at the University of Chicago and told them I was transferring to a Bible college to pursue full-time ministry. Giving up a full-ride scholarship to one of the top-ranked universities in the country didnt make much sense on paper. But I knew this was my no fear, now-or-never moment.

Was it a gut-wrenching decision? Yes. Did I ever second-guess it? More than once!

Let me ask the question: Whos following whom?

Are you following Jesus?

Or have you inverted the gospel by inviting Jesus to follow you?

HOLY DARE

More than a hundred years ago, a British revivalist issued a holy dare that would change a life, a city, and a generation. That timeless challenge echoes across every generation: The world has yet to see what God will do with and for and through and in and by the man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him.

The original hearer of that call to consecration was D. L. Moody. When those words hit his eardrums, they shot straight to his soul. That call to consecration defined his life. And his life, in turn, defined consecration.