Comfort is a trap that I don’t want to be caught in. Comfort is an idol that I don’t want to worship. Comfort is a lifestyle that I don’t want to live.
Christianity is a call to uncomfortableness.
Comfortable Christianity is devastating the Western church. I see it everywhere. People going to church only when its convenient for them. People leaving churches because the sermons are too long or the worship “just isn’t the style they like.” People getting spoon-fed scripture at church but never diving into the word on their own. Others opening their bible only to take an Instagram photo and then never actually reading it.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve fallen into these traps so many times. I am FAR from perfect. It’s so easy to go throughout my day without acknowledging my need for God. As a young 20-someting American, my life is not hard. I do not need anything that I don’t have access to. Life here is easy. Life here is comfortable.
BUT. Jesus wants to give me so much more than a bachelors degree can. He wants so much more for me than a big house with a white picket fence in a safe neighborhood where everyone looks and acts just like me. The Christian life has so much more to offer than a Sunday morning service and some likes on Instagram. I see it when I read the gospel. When Jesus calls the disciples and they “drop everything and follow Him.” I see it when Peter steps out of the boat and walks on water with Jesus.
Where’s the stepping out of the boat? Where’s the dropping everything and following? Where is there room for God to push us out of our comfort zones into new places of trust? Living a comfortable life was not appealing to Jesus. Therefore, it is not appealing to me. I don’t want to spend my life striving for worldly comfort. I don’t want to find my security in money and people and what the world says I should.
Going on the World Race is not a comfortable thing for me to do. I’m not comfortable with living out of a backpack for a year. I’m not comfortable leaving my family and friends behind to travel the world with people I’ve never met. I’m not comfortable missing weddings, engagements and holidays. Heck, I’m not even comfortable sleeping without my night-light. I still find myself trying to control my situation. Trying to hold onto everything I can. The decision to leave comfortable behind is tough. Really tough.
But, the tiny steps of obedience to the call to uncomfortableness come with opportunities, too. New opportunities to trust. New opportunities to grow. New opportunities to share stories and testimonies. New opportunities to humble myself. (ALOT of these, actually.) New opportunities to find my comfort and security in Jesus. New opportunities to seek His face and adore Him. The list could go on.
When I think about all that the world has to offer, it doesn’t even compare to what my Jesus offers me every single day. If being uncomfortable means I get to experience the heart of the Father, then sign me up. If we say, “Yes, Lord” to being uncomfortable, we will receive joy upon joy upon joy. And we get to experience Him, honor Him, and know Him more because of it.
At the end of it all, Jesus is worth it. Jesus is worth counting it all as loss. Jesus is worth dropping everything to follow Him. Jesus is worth coming back to an empty bank account. Jesus is worth losing time with my family and friends. Jesus is worth it all. I pray that the church would recognize comfort for what it is- a trap and a disease that spreads and makes us believe that we don’t need the love and the care and the help of our Heavenly Father.
I pray that as I travel the world, I would witness and experience what true dependence on the Father looks and feels like. I pray for willingness in myself to seek His face in the trials and hardships. I pray for areas in my heart and my life that I don’t trust Him with to be revealed to me, so that I can lay them at His feet. And I pray for grace and forgiveness for all the times on the Race when I will fail and fall into the trap of worldly comfort.
At the end of it all, I just want my Daddy to be proud of me. Proud of the life I’ve strived to live for Him and His purposes and His glory. Proud of the way that I let Him push me out of my comfort zone so I could experience new parts of His heart for me.
Living a lifetime in a state of uncomfortableness with my Jesus is better than living a lifetime of comfort without Him. Today, and every day, I choose Jesus. I choose whatever He has for my life, whatever the cost. Because He is worth it.
“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” -Philippians 3:8
“Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” -Matthew 16:24-26
