I am discontent, yet satisfied. A clear oxymoron, but the truth. I am writing this as an American convicted to live outside of the life I was raised in.
I’ve spent the last two months in Georgia, learning about who I am, who Christ is to me, and witnessing the church in action across the nation before I go be the church in action across the world in a few short days. Since being here, I have come to love Georgia. God has blessed me with such a strong community here that I never expected to find. I have been welcomed and cared for by so many, I have found a mentor, a second home, and a whole second family. God brought me here to comfort me and prepare me before I leave. But in the midst of this time of rest and comfort, I have discovered a burning discontent for the Church and the lack of obedience we have to the simple command to go and make disciples. I have had so much time to just be, which has truly been a blessing. But now, as I prepare to leave the country I find it harder to say goodbye to the comforts I’ve rested in while being here. Its a continual battle I wake up to fight every day. I’ve decided that the biggest thing holding back the American Church from going to make disciples is the overpowering desire for comfortable living. I’ve fallen deep into this pit myself, especially since being in Georgia surrounded by earthly comfort. Being alone with my paint and my music and my TV, being happy exactly where I am, doing absolutely nothing to build the Kingdom. I think I can call that earthly satisfaction. Or even more accurately- fabricated satisfaction. I have to work daily to find my satisfaction in Jesus first, and to thank Him for the time he has given me here to understand what his real comfort looks like.
We as Americans are in the top 1% when it comes to wealth. We are the richest people on earth, literally. yet all I’ve seen since being in the south is the poverty that has stricken our souls in the name of comfortability. Now, I believe there is a clear contrast between contentment and satisfaction. We as Americans struggle to see the difference, we need the newest iPhone to fulfill our desires. We long for routine that keeps life simple yet we fill it with technology and modern living to complicate it all again. True satisfaction is only achieved when sacrifice becomes a daily act of obedience. When taking up your cross actually means letting go of everything else you carried with you before. Not just the physical, but the emotional baggage that nails us to the soil of America rather than the obedience that nails our own selfish desires to the cross. Satisfaction comes when you have nothing but the Lord as your source of comfort. This is the biggest most valuable lesson I have learned while here in Georgia.
I also want to point out that in Matthew 16:24, Jesus does not say “take up the cross.” He already did that for us. That war is already won. He took up THE cross. Jesus says in every translation I’ve found to “take up YOUR cross and follow me,” wherever he may be leading. I believe this is intentional, everyone has their own cross to carry, yet it is so beautiful because the weight of it was already carried when Jesus took it to the mountain for us. I believe we all have a unique calling, though we are all called to make disciples, that looks different in everyone’s lives because God created us as individuals with unique passions and unique paths to walk. Yet as one church, we are all to carry our cross daily no matter what that looks like or where He leads. He died for all with one precious sacrifice, now in turn we die to self to sacrifice everything we have to live for Him.
Nowhere in the bible does Jesus preach a message of comfortability apart from His comfort he offers to use through salvation. He preaches time and time again of abandoning everything to follow Him. This means your house, your AC, your bed, your friends, your family. When did we as a church become okay with being titled as the richest country in the world? Did you know that within 16 years, the entire world could be reached with the gospel if we as individuals decided to follow the commands to “go and make disciples,” or in paralleling old testament words “be fruitful and multiply.” And that is 16 years if only one person were obedient to these commands from the beginning, all it takes is one person to make 2 disciples a year who each make two disciples a year who each make two disciples a year, and so on. At that rate we would reach every single person on this planet within 16 years. And yet we decide to live comfortably with hardened hearts in our own repetitive cycle of false satisfaction as we reject the call to obedience. Now I’m not writing this to judge, I’m just repeating all that The Lord has taught me and revealed to me over these past two months. I pray you don’t take this as a judgment but as a wake up call. I pray you receive the same revelation I have received and can find a way to implement sacrifice into your every day life. Because when sacrifice becomes your daily routine, that is when the Kingdom truly comes.
So Church, I encourage you to long for satisfaction, to seek it only in Christ. I challenge you to break free of your daily routine and discover the true gift of living fully for Him. This is where you will discover the holy discontent that brings us to our knees as we let go of ourselves, pick up our cross, and fight for our brothers and sisters who have not yet heard of the all consuming comfort of our Sweet Jesus.
And I leave, backpack strapped on, and passport in hand, seeking to make disciples not only in Ecuador, India, and Zambia, but within the US. I pray God uses my blogs to bring you to your knees as he brings me to mine along this nine month journey.
Many Blessings
-Tay
