All of us like to be comfortable. There is nothing like sinking in to a comfortable chair after a long day. I have to keep my feet up a certain number of hours each day, not that I always do. Some days it is easy to sit with my feet on the footstool. How many of us love to snuggle under the comforter, up to our neck, with the window ushering in the cool night air? Comfort is all around us, even the chair I'm sitting in right now is comfortable. What about our cars? We can drive in perfectly controlled temperatures, in our seat that remembers our weight and position,Ouch. We can talk on the phone and keep our hands on the steering wheel, all while a little box tells us where to turn. Talk about ease and comfort.
What about being comfortable as a follower of Jesus Christ? Is there any room in the discipleship journey for comfort? I guess I would say, yes and no. Yes, there is comfort in Jesus. He gives the purest and most complete peace and comfort available. When our life is hid with Christ in God no power or evil can take that away. Oh, we may misplace it, that is our doing, not His. The peace that fills the heart of the follower of Christ is a peace that the world does not understand. Yes, there is peace and comfort in knowing Christ. Hebrews tells us there is a rest for the Children of God.
No, there is no comfort in being a follower of Jesus. No comfort in that I can sit back and tell people and myself that my work is done. There is no retirement in following Christ. The Discipleship Union does not have a thirty and out option. We are placed upon the earth to do the work of God, with the Power of God, until we meet God. Our circumstances have little to do with serving and living for God. I know a man who suffered a serious stroke who still served God in every way possible.
So, what are we, you, waiting for? I have talked about the need for Transformational Love and the spiritual blocks to that love. Blocks such as fear, prejudice, pride, money, envy, social pressures, all can keep us from loving in a powerful way, the way Jesus loved. Ask God to forgive the sins of the spirit, ask Him to fill your heart with His all consuming transforming love. Begin to live in the answer to prayer. Look at people through different eyes. look at people the way God does. Don't see people that you like and people that you do not like. Look at people as living souls who face life just like you do, except they do not have the Christ in their life like you do.
What would it take for you to really come out of your own security and comfort zone? Would you visit with a dying patient in a care home? How about becoming friends with a homeless man, the old man who walks down the street collecting bottles and cans so he can buy a pack of smokes. The unlovable are all around us. Some of them are so beaten down they will never look you in the eyes. You will need to address them, put your arm around them, shake their hand. Speak to them like a person with dignity and respect.
Go for it. Try it, you might be the person to change a life.
Thank-you for the challenge.
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