Does ministry and love call us to put ourselves at risk ALL THE TIME?

Just thinking out loud...

Does ministry and love calls us to put ourselves at risk ALL THE TIME?

The answer for many Christians is: if a Christian isn’t risking it all then he/she is disappointing God. They give the example of Jesus at the cross, of Paul in Jerusalem, and the Old Testament prophets losing their lives as they spoke the truth. All of these are true but is this the whole story?

Jesus knowing the crowd was going to throw him off the cliff, walks away (with God’s help), Jesus came secretly into Jerusalem when he knew the religious leaders wanted to kill him and then left. Paul on multiple occasions left town after persecution. Peter moved to another house (hid) after an angel released him from prison. Elijah in the Old Testament hid for three years as the drought took place. Obadiah hid the prophets of God from an unrighteous queen. In the book of Acts, the Christians fled Jerusalem during persecution. In all these cases the people took precautions to save their lives and the lives of their families.

Yet today I hear people making accusations toward those that call for precautions as being unloving and being based on fear or hate. I want to acknowledge here that some of those that call for caution is being motivated for the wrong reason, but isn’t it possible that those calling for fewer precautions might have less than honorable motivations? 

This can cover areas from help for the poor, to social justice, to dealing with refugees. What I fear is that both sides have steeped themselves in their own ideas that they can not or will not admit there might be another side on the issue in question. Many can’t accept the other side may love God and are truly trying to follow the example of Christ. 

Perhaps there is a balance between the two? Perhaps not? Perhaps, rather than calling others out to a fight we should just express our thoughts and let it go. Perhaps, we need to ask God to show us what we need to do to change our lives rather than try and change the opinions of others? 

So where do I stand on most issues? In the middle usually, which means both sides hate me but that is okay. As I read it this is where Jesus stood and both sides of the religious community hated him.