A friend of mine laid this on me this past week. I like the sound of it. It reminds me of that meme that says something like “do life with the confidence of a 4 year old boy in a batman t-shirt.” IT is a good thought on which to dwell: I am bulletproof, I am unstoppable.
Well, we can be stopped. I’m sorry to be the one to tell you, but we can be taken out. We might be the hero who runs into the burning building to rescue someone and die in the process. We might be the one persecuted for our faith and get ourselves fired at work or somehow removed from this position or that role. We might lose out on an opportunity we think we want or need. We might even lose our life for our faith. We aren’t bulletproof. We aren’t invincible.
Paul was killed for his work in Christ, as was Peter, James……there is a long list of men and women who died for their faith. They weren’t bulletproof. It didn’t matter, though. It didn’t prevent them from moving forward and doing what God had appointed them to do. They were people on fire for Him. They were people who knew, without any doubt, without any question in mind, that Jesus is Lord and that they were His. That didn’t make them bulletproof or invincible, but it did make them a dangerous weapon in the hands of the father. It was the confidence that came not from a batman t-shirt, but from identity as a child of the King and the assurance of salvation, and that comes with the confidence of knowing that none of that depends on us but totally on God and what He has done for us.
Are you afraid to move forward in the call He has placed on you? He tells us over and over again that we don’t need to fear. He assures us often that He is for us and not against us, that He has plans for us, not to harm us but for to be blessed by Him. He invites us to partner with Him in what He is doing and tells us that we have been created with a purpose in mind. His plans are greater than ours. He doesn’t need our help to do anything, but He chooses to work with us and through us to see His plan unfold.
If you were to do what He is giving you to do, what is the worst that could happen? Well, you could die! If you did, then you would be in His arms, enjoying the heavenly choir and giving Him eternal praise in paradise with Him. That ain’t too bad! What else? You could be alone or ostracized, or ridiculed. In some ways, that might be worse than death. I’ve recently been made alone in a lot of ways, but it has allowed me to draw closer to Him in my grief, which, in turn, makes me stronger in faith as I see Him coming through in new and miraculous ways. If you did that thing He called you to do, He is going to empower you to do it and to be blessed through doing it…even if it kills you.
There is nothing that can separate a child of the King from His hands. That is true whether you believe it or not, in the same way that it is true that His will is that none would perish (2 Peter 3:9). You can do what He is calling you to do. You can do it even if you are frightened in the “doing” of it. You can trust that He is in it with you and that He is working it out for good and His glory.
I would rather see you be that kind of dangerous weapon in His hands than I would to see you walk around bulletproof. Paul was a man like that as he journeyed to Rome. He had a call and knew, even, that bad things were coming his way. The call was greater and the power of God in his life was more of a motivator than was the fear of what was to come (don’t you imagine there had to be some fear?). He knew he was going to Rome, so he went, in spite of shipwrecks and snake bites, he knew he was going to Rome. God got him there to do what he was appointed to do and he did it faithfully (I don’t imagine always fearlessly, even the greatest true heroes experience fear but do what needs to be done in spite of it), even unto death.
Jesus is the greatest example of all. He knew the call and He knew who He was and here He was going. He did what was appointed for Him to do (and I imagine he had to face the fear of what was coming. I remind you, he even asked for the cup to be passed from him, but He chose to follow the call and the plan). He was obedient even unto death in a humiliating, horrifying, agonzing fashion. He wasn’t bulletproof then. He died to pay for our sin. He was buried. But, he was raised from the dead for us and is lifted above every name. He was the greatest weapon ever used by God to accomplish his purposes.
Don’t worry about being bulletproof. Be His kid and listen to your Father.