I love a good catchy Christian phrase just as much as the next gal… scandalous grace, radical love….loving dangerously. I can grasp onto these words, cling to them throughout my day to day challenges of smiling at people who are jerks and biting my tongue when someone cuts me off on my commute. But the fact is… truly learning how to put these things into practice hurts. There are tears. There are bruised egos. I’m left feeling like I’ve failed, once again, at being a “good” disciple of Jesus. And I will continue to fail at that if I define it as being nice to everyone who crosses my path and smiling and laughing when people are truly hurtful and the worlds’ harsh edges cut at me. 

Lately, I’ve learned a few things about what loving dangerously means:

It is not glamorous. 

There will be pain. Loving dangerously means more than loving people who we think don’t deserve it. It means loving despite people hurting us, intentionally or not. 

It means taking a risk. It means being scared that someday your teeth will slip when you bite your lip at someone’s outright rude soliloquy, but trusting that God will use whatever emotions you express for His own good. 

It means there will be no applause for you. No pat on the back saying, “Great job. I know that was tough. You didn’t slap that person and then you even managed to eek out a prayer for them as you walked away from the confrontation. High-five.” It means you’re going to have to make due with the love that God lavishes on you. Even if it doesn’t come in your love language.

Of course, loving dangerously doesn’t mean being taken advantage of. It doesn’t mean not sticking up for yourself and your values. Loving dangerously takes a courage in your faith, in your life, that you didn’t know you had in you. 

We have a God who personifies every cheesy, catchy Christian line perfectly. He does, in fact, disperse a grace so scandalous it covers every single person. His grace covers me who proclaims with all my soul that He is my Lord and savior just as much as it covers my friends who insist He does not exist.  

So ultimately, what did I learn about loving dangerously? I learned that it challenges and strengthens your relationship with God. It reminds you of the high standard God call us to (“forgive as the Lord forgave you” Col 3:13). It also demands that we focus our desire for approval and for acceptance on God. Finally, it is an opportunity to trust God with doubts about our own shortcomings and be content that He will see them through. 

I’m thankful for the way God is pulling me, kneading me, stretching me, into a better version of myself; a woman who is more dependent on Him than anyone or anything else. Day by day I’m learning to be dangerous in the way I love this world.