I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm–neither hot nor cold–I am about to spit you out of my mouth. Revelations 3:15-16 NIV
Sometimes, we live such a comfortable life that it’s easy to forget. Forget about your friends, forget about your family, forget about God. Life is busy, and wordly distractions can impair our relationship with God if we’re not careful to recognize and fix it.
One of my biggest fears is living a complacent life in Christ. I am a firm believer that if you’re not challenging yourself in Christ, you’re not growing in Him either. I personally know many Christians who are lukewarm- who go to church on Sundays, say they’re too busy for serving others, or do the bare minimum to get their “quota” in to make themselves feel good. This is by no means trying to attack anyone, but if you think it applies to you as you’re reading this, you may want to pray about that and ask why, and do some inward investigating.
God is not a God who only wants you on Sunday mornings or during the weekend. The God who loves us unconditionally does not want only weekend custody, but wants a relationship with you every day. How would you feel if your best friend only acknowledged you on Sunday mornings, never once during the week trying to get in touch with you to talk? Somehow, I doubt you would still be best friends with that person.
But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. Matthew 7:26 NIV
It’s easy to become so comfortable that you stop relying on God to provide everything you need and start relying on yourself. I can personally attest that this has happened to me. Life was going great; I had great friends, a job, an income, no real problems. But I felt distant from God. And then I realized I had put Him inside this box because I didn’t “need Him anymore” since life was good now. After I had that realization, I was terrified. The only reason I had any of those things was because He gave them to me.
In Matthew, it talks about how foolish a man is to build his house on sand. At the first storm, that house will be destroyed. Very much like our relationships with God, if our foundation is not in Him, at the first sign of trouble we’re going to turn to ourselves instead of relying on Him to help us stay on solid ground. And in order to make sure your foundation is in Him, it could require you to be uncomfortable.
Why do you need to be uncomfortable you may ask? Because in my (short) experience, I’ve grown the most in Christ when I’m uncomfortable. It challenges me to go outside my comfort zone and rely on Him to help get me through it.
So here’s my challenge for you: get uncomfortable. Challenge yourself. So you can grow in Christ and have a more solid foundation in your relationship with Him. I’m not saying every single person should go on a mission’s trip-that may not be your calling. But pray about it. Ask God to open a door and give you an opportunity to challenge yourself, and pray that you’ll be ready for it when that time comes. I promise there are so many opportunities wherever you live.
Maybe you start volunteering at a soup kitchen, but don’t just volunteer, get to know the residents. Ask them their story. Yes, it’ll probably be uncomfortable, but you’ll bless those people by showing them God’s love and letting them know that they’re important enough for you to listen to their story. If I’ve learned anything over the past few years, it’s that investing in people who may not otherwise have anyone pouring into them could be one of the most rewarding things (spiritually and emotionally) that you’ll ever do.
So I’ll leave you with this: If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech, but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:17-18 NIV
God bless,
Jenna
