When I moved
to Estevan, I owned a “Pontiac Acadian”.
It was a small, four cylinder, five speed car that was fun to drive
around town. I liked it a lot. That is until the day that I drove it from
Moose Jaw to Winnipeg. After eight hours,
my back hurt and my neck was sore and I did not want to drive that car another
mile.
“Comfort”
is something that most people look for in a car. It is considered a good quality. In fact, comfort is one of the most valued
aspects of life these days. You hear
people saying things like, “We just need a big house so that we are comfortable”,
or “I am trying to save enough to be comfortable in retirement”. Comfort is one of our main goals.
However,
when it comes to your spiritual life, comfortable is not ok!
If comfort
is our goal, then we will never think, stretch, grow, be challenged or change. Faith, by its very nature, requires us to be
“uncomfortable” and to live life in ways that are opposite to our natural
inclinations and instincts. How many of
us would “turn the other cheek” (Matthew 5:39) if it had not been commanded by
God? How many of us would give
generously and secretly if we were not challenged to do so by the word of God
(Matthew 6:1-4). If everything about our
spiritual life is comfortable, we likely are not following very closely.
Think of it
this way: In Matthew 14 we read about
Peter walking on the water. That took
some faith and trust. It is not
something that would have come easily to Peter.
At the same time, the other disciples are still sitting in the
boat. Note that we refer to this
incident as “Peter walking on the water” not “Eleven guys sitting in a
boat”! None will ever tell a story
about those who were afraid to try.
Jesus
underlines this point when he tells the story of the talents (Matthew
25:14-30). Three servants were given
sums of money to use while their master was away. Two of them did something with what they were
given and were praised by their master when he returned (“Well done good and
faithful servant!”). The third was
scared to fail and so he did not even try.
He decided that he was uncomfortable with taking a risk, so he did nothing! In the end, that was not good enough. “Do something! Do anything!
But do not let fear cause you to do nothing!” was the message that he
received.
So, do the
thing that you know you need to do and do not worry if it seems a little scary
or uncomfortable.
In
spiritual things, uncomfortable is ok.
In fact, it probably means that you are growing!
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