Easter: Warning, Safety Alert for the Soul!

      Greetings to all of the saints at CCF!!! God loves you and has called you to participate in His Divine nature. I think I can say without argument that we are concerned with our safety. 

      Safety is important, right? In my line of work, safety is king. If a worker can identify that a task they are doing isn’t safe, they have the right to stop work and request an investigation be done before work continues to ensure their safety. None of us want to engage in an event that may cause us harm. We could lose a finger, an eye, a hand, some other injury or God forbid…. lose our life. That makes sense. I recently saw a post from a pastor in the UK talking about our safety as Christians. His talk went like this: The Holy Spirit is in us, we are in Christ, and He is in the Father. He was trying to calm the Christian mind that may be anxious with a visual of each Tupperware fitting inside the other. They were all labeled appropriately so you could see God containing Jesus, Jesus containing us, and the Holy Spirit contained in the “us” container. He was using Tupperware as an aid to display the levels of safety we have. It was…..impressive. Now, I say that sarcastically because Tupperware isn’t really impressive, but it gets the job done and the model did demonstrate the levels of protection we have, to his point. My apologies to any of you who sold Tupperware in the 80’s, great for keeping food fresh, an odd choice as a comparison of our security in God. Our definition of safety, as Christians, should be that our souls are safe from God’s wrath. My opinion, everything else should be gravy.

      Each and everyone of us will die…… some of us will be tortured, I am speaking internationally at the moment. For us Christians in the west, our cross to bear will be the experience of the uncomfortable situation of not being popular with our friends and peers. Chances are, you will not be nominated as prom King or Queen. One day it will change I promise, for now, it’s just uncomfortable.
      We are now entering into the end of Lent and focusing on the celebration of Easter. As we enter into this, I have a question: Do you have evidence that you are more concerned with your physical safety more than your spiritual safety? Don’t get it twisted folks, they oppose each other. Please don’t skip past this and think right now, for a few seconds think about it, agree you are ready to die for Christ, and move on. Take it to prayer and spend a couple of days in reflection. Make sure you give yourself enough time to let it ruminate, enough time for memories to come to mind that give you a real sense of what is true. Don’t be worried about the results, look for opportunities to grow. This is crucial because, If we do lean towards protecting our physical safety, we will compromise our ability to be spiritually minded and the salt of the world. You won’t take risks, speak the truth in dangerous situations or hold your convictions to your own pain. This isn’t about where to place the blame, it’s about real self-reflection and growth. 

    This distinction is the very thing Jesus asks of us. We should ask ourselves, are we the salt and light of the world? In America, we don’t wrestle with life or death over our beliefs, we wrestle with our social acceptance and popularity. The Apostle Paul would not be impressed. 

If we truly want to be like Christ, we should be those who are always hopeful, always quick to forgive, encompassed with humility, and unrelenting to share the truth that our savior rose from the dead and conquered it!! Is my safety at risk? Why even consider it?

Safety for the Christian: I am alive in Christ, what can man do to me!

HAPPY EASTER!!!!! It’s Fridaaaay but….!!!! (Sundays ahh comin)

Rest in the hope that only He can provide…

Pastor Jason