Ok, maybe this is more of a rant than usual. Maybe even a diatribe. But I’m getting so sick of hearing one of the new farewell slogans that emerged in the Covid-19 era: Be Safe!

Be Safe is a replacement for the slogan most of our older readers may recall their parents telling them (and many of us telling our own kids), Be Careful! While these may seem similar there is a fundamental difference between the two: one is consistent with biblical thinking and one is not. And you can already tell which one I think is unbiblical, and which one is.

It’s not too surprising that in a Covid world, emerging out of the recent decades of helicopter parents post 9-11, “safe” spaces on campuses, that we now culturally see safety as paramount. It’s also not too surprising that this is concentrated more on those that lean Democrat/Progressive (e.g., blue states shutting down harder and longer than red states), as there has long been an affinity for security in the Security/Liberty tradeoff of what government should do for those that lean progressive. But Be Safe is now seemingly the right way to think even among Christians; I’ve heard it multiple places (most recently on Sirius XM’s The Message, which was the genesis of this post) and I’ve probably foolishly said it myself. But the more I hear it, the more it seems wrong.

Nowhere in the Bible do you hear a command to be safe. In fact, you are told again and again the opposite: Joshua was told to be strong and courageous, David was our hero for facing Goliath, we are given object lessons for failures to be courageous and acting out of fear (e.g., Abraham twice lying about Sarah as his sister), Jesus told us that he who tries to save his life will lose it, Jesus telling us that greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. We could go on and on. And let’s get very practical: If you are a Christian, you should believe the Bible. Psalm 139 tells us that God has numbered our days before we were even born! Your date to meet God face to face is predetermined, and you and I won’t, by our efforts to be safe, stay that divine appointment.

Does that mean we should throw caution to the wind? Absolutely not! In our turning from the ditch of Be Safe, we shouldn’t go all the way to the other ditch of Be Stupid! The Bible does have a better answer–Be Prudent! Spend some time in the Proverbs and as you soak in that wisdom, you’ll see what prudence is (and what Be Safe looks like). Proverbs 22:3 tells us, “The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.” My own personal definition of prudence is “seeing the world as it really is and acting accordingly.” I love this, and it fits with the economic way of thinking: consider all the costs and all the benefits of any course of action, both the near term and the long term. Jesus tells us to do this to, as we need to “consider the cost” of discipleship. Contrast this with the extreme foolishness of Be Safe, as Proverbs twice (22:13, 26:13) tells us of the sluggard who refuses to get up and work because “there is a lion in the streets.” How many of us are still allowing fear of Covid-19 to restrain us from living normally, even after we have been vaccinated?

This unfortunately goes far beyond Covid-19 to facing risks in general. I see too many Christians (often in the mirror) that “play it safe” in the name of prudence, refusing to take risks for gospel purposes. We need to stop being safe. We should be prudent, and it’s ok to be careful–we do have stewardship responsibilities of the health of our own body after all. Nor am I telling you how specifically to treat Covid-19 or anything else; prudence is often found in the counsel of several others–that’s where the church comes in. And everyone of us has different costs/benefits of every issue we face that only those that know and care for us can really help us process. But let’s commit to walking not in a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind (2 Tim 1:7).