Once again I find myself writing a blog way out of my comfort zone. As I sat down to write about what went through my mind last week, I realized that I was trying to pack some of Christianity’s biggest problems into 1000 words. Reading it made no sense at all. I just wasn’t getting the message across. As most of you know I’m not strong at communicating, so I really hope to get my heart out on this issue and not sound preachy. So, I’m going to do a three-part blog on this problem that I’m currently struggling with. My hope is that by the end of it, you will find yourself struggling with them too. (hahahaha)

 

The Trilogy of Comfort (1 of 3)

 

A TALE OF TWO CHURCHES

 

Allow me to set the stage. Two years ago, I never imagined that I would be on this trip or any missions trip for that matter. I thought about the world. I thought about the problems in the world. I realized you can’t know the extent of how bad the rest of the world is until you are in it. Over the last couple weeks, I have been working on this comfort problem in my head. I have been trying to figure out how I have been comfortable to all of this. How can people that have been through experiences like this be the same afterward? I think to myself how can I never go back to where I was: comfortable.

 

I watched a documentary the other day called “The Father of Light.” One of the experts in the film said there are two kinds of churches today:

 

The persecuted church and the comfortable church.

 

I want to start with my favorite, the persecuted church. I’ll call it the church of Luke 14. It’s a church full of people that know the cost of following Christ. This church actually picks up its cross every day to follow God. It doesn’t neglect the Word of God. It knows the true hope that we have in Christ. Theirs is a hope for their world to get better, but really it’s the faith they have in heaven and the promise that is for all Christians. This church makes disciples, and they grow faster than the comfortable church. Truly, the persecuted church is the Christ church.

 

There was a time in Christianity that we preached the prosperity gospel. I thank God we stopped doing that now (for the most part). I think a new “Gospel” has grown into the church. This is the gospel of being Comfortable; the church of Jeremiah 29:11, not Jeremiah 29:10-14; the Romans 8:28 church, not the Romans 8:28-29 church. It’s the gospel of “not stepping out of your lane.” This gospel of Comfort is the result of fear because stepping into uncomfortable situations is scary. The people that believe the gospel of Comfort are powerless in this world because they are crippled with fear of stepping out. They really want to take care of the world around them but they have been consumed with making themselves comfortable first.

 

Now, I hate making generalizations for a whole church, and I’m not doing that. The church is all made up of Christians, right? I think every church can be full of both of these two types of people. To be fair, I’m really more of a Comfortable Christian myself. That is what is killing me right now.

 

How can a church be full of both of these people?

 

It’s actually a choice and not just about where in the world you’re from. It’s a choice to join Christ and live in the persecution. The persecution comes from the world, the world we are live in. Now, there are some churches living in fear that they will get killed for their faith, but the persecuted could really get persecuted physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

 

We are all a part of this comfortable church. As I said, fear has lead us here. We also have twisted the Gospel to fit this thinking. We love all the verses about God wanting good for us, and He does, but what we miss is the “good” found in becoming like Christ… which means picking up our cross and following Him to where we need to go.  It’s saying yes to being comfortable with being uncomfortable. It’s denying the fear of people, or the fear of hate, or the fear of being a failure.

 

Over the last couple years, I have been thinking about how much we truly believe in this Christianity thing. I’m beginning to think that we haven’t done enough to save the world around us. If we believe, why is there fear of picking up your cross; sharing your faith and living like Christ lived, not fearing anything?

 

Luke 14 has been on my mind a lot lately. I am trying to understand the true cost of Christianity. I want to know the true cost of my faith and picking up my cross. Go read that verse and think about it. Let’s stop fooling ourselves and jump into this Christianity thing.

 

We know the cost, but it’s for an amazing reward.

 

If all the church joined in with the persecuted church, we would actually start changing the world. We would start making disciples in the faith because there is nothing else we could do. We could live our lives in Christ and pick up our cross. We would be both filled with peace and joy, but also know the sorrow of this world. If we start accepting that cost of Christianity is great, and realizing the reward is so much better, then we start living in the faith we have been called to have.

 

If you have a minute, I hope you will look up the song, “My Apology” by Mattie Montgomery.

 

My next blog in this trilogy of comfort is going to be about a story that my team and I talked about. It really got me on this kick of thinking about comfort. Hope you will like it.

 

Thanks for reading.