Are You Comfortable?
Ryan O’Neill
I’m a big fan of coffee. Like “have it every morning there’s a big ol’ hole in my life and in my heart if I don’t” sort of a fan. I’ll drink it in the car, I’ll drink it at church, I’ll drink it in the shower, I don’t care where I am but a lot of times it’s with me. Coffee is my ultimate comfort.
Back in 2017 my worst coffee loving fears came true. I was at the coffee shop that I frequented every day and did all my work from. This shop supplied free refills on drip coffee so naturally I would take them up on that. I was on drip number four of the day (a normal occurrence) when all of a sudden, I felt deep pain in my throat and chest. It was incredibly uncomfortable and as much as I wanted it to go away it didn’t. It would keep me up all night and wreck my throat during the day. To my horror, I had gerd (acid reflux.) The coffee that I had loved so much, that had supplied me with joy day after day, had brought me an incredible amount of pain. Not just temporarily, but for over a month I had to remove myself of any type of acidic food. It was a very bland time in my life.
What I’m trying to get at here is that a lot of times the comfort we cling to so heavily in our lives can actually end up being a detriment to us. Jesus warned the wealthy and comfortable of his day in Luke 6:24: “Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation”. Another translation for consolation is you have received your comfort. We want to stay in our comfort, but too much comfort can lead to us becoming complacent. This in turn leads to not growing in our faith and our progression onward toward the identity God has for us, forgetting that as Christians we are completely reliant on God and not on what makes us feel good in the moment or what our culture tells us will bring us peace.
When we get complacent in our comfort, we get off course.
Off the track of who God wants us to be. You see we’re not in a faith of comfort. You as a Christian are not called to be comfortable. Following Jesus is a relationship where we need to understand that we are dependent on Him. By the very nature of being a Christian you’re called to give up control, to hand it over to Jesus, and that is the most uncomfortable thing I can think of.
I believe we serve a God who loves when we’re happy, and actually wants us to be comfortable. 2 Corinthians tells us that God shares in our comfort! The disconnect here is that our idea of worldly comfort is not the Lord’s idea of sustaining comfort. Sustaining comfort is dependence on God’s supernatural grace and a faith in Him and Him alone, no matter our circumstance.
2 Corinthians 12:9: “My grace is all you need, for my power is the greatest when you are weak.”
Psalm 73:26: "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."
Nehemiah 8:10: "Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."
Psalm 46:5: “God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.”
Philippians 4:13: “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”
In order for Jesus to be sufficient, we need to sacrifice our idea of comfort.
How comfortable are we and the Christians in our lives? Does our comfort look more American: wealthy, domestic, and entertaining; or more Christian: humble, spiritual, and durable? Is our comfort the kind that is purchased with money, or the kind produced by the Holy Spirit?
Biblically, here’s what comfort is:
2 Corinthians 7:4 says “I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy”
God’s comfort is not absence of suffering, but presence of joy and hope in the midst of it. Having hope in a God that is greater than anything we face. The joy in knowing that he loves us unconditionally despite our mistakes. There is freedom in this type of comfort, let us rest in that today.