What it is about
Somewhere along the way, McManus argues, the Christian faith got civilized. Tamed. Made safe, respectable, and comfortable. He calls men back to a barbarian faith, one that is wild and awake and willing to follow Jesus into the hard and the unknown.
It is short and it is meant to provoke. McManus is not interested in a domesticated religion that asks nothing of a man. He is after the untamed life Jesus actually called us to.
The big idea
Jesus did not die to make you safe. The barbarian way is a life fully surrendered to God, awake to His voice, and unafraid to follow Him off the map.
Talk it through
- Where has your faith gotten civilized, safe, and comfortable?
- McManus says the barbarian hears a call others miss. What have you sensed God asking of you that you have talked yourself out of?
- What would following Jesus look like this year if you stopped playing it safe?
- Where has comfort quietly become the thing you protect most?
- When did you last take a real risk because you believed God was in it?
- What is the difference, for you, between a tamed faith and a living one?
- Who around you needs a man who will go first into the hard thing?
Read the Word
Verses resolve in full via API.Bible
One practice
Name one place you have been playing it safe with God. Take one concrete, uncomfortable step of obedience this week, and tell a brother what it was and how it went.