Things at our house remain more hectic than I'd like. We seem to be fighting more battles than I'd like. Honestly, I'd rather not have battles to fight....but they certainly keep life interesting.
There were SO many political ads with the recent elections: written, phone calls and TV. It seems the elections brought out a little of the best and some of the worst in all of us. Talking about politics, especially with someone that doesn't have the same view can be uncomfortable. Now we hopefully heal the rifts and move in the direction we need to move. So many people got involved with elections, conventions, etc. May we not get so comfortable that we get apathetic.
Matthew 5:11-12 (The Message)“Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.
We seem to live in an age where we expect to be comfortable. Feel some pain? There's a pill for that. Need to have a conversation that may not go as you like? Avoid it. We even call some of our blankies comforters. We might think this is a somewhat recent phenomenon.
However, in Exodus, we read about Moses. Moses was born a Hebrew. The Pharaoh had ordered baby Hebrew boys to be killed. Moses was placed into a basket by his mother and set afloat in a river. The Pharaoh's daughter found Moses, took him home and raised him as her own. Moses had a pretty comfortable life as Pharaoh's grandson. Moses still connected with "his" people though. His people became slaves in Egypt. They didn't like it. They wanted out.
(Sometimes we are offered the opportunity to leave our comfort zone)
God provided opportunities for them to leave. When they finally left, life wasn't exactly what they thought it would be. They wanted to go back....even if it meant remaining as slaves.
(Seeking comfort can give us unrealistic expectations and we want to go back to what we know because it is familiar. That doesn't mean it's better)
After wandering in the dessert for 40 years, they finally got to their promised land.
(Sometimes a period of being uncomfortable leads to comfortable)
Where's your promised land? Are you on your way there? What's standing in your way? Is it worth the effort? Enough ?s? ;)
It seems we're living in a world that is becoming pretty comfortable with the status quo. It seems we're living in a world that even the current status quo is sliding in the wrong direction. It seems rather gradual until you look back and notice how far we've slipped. TV, music, movies, books.
As time and the world march on, being a Christian is going to continue becoming more uncomfortable. There will be people that will not agree with the way we try to live our lives. That does not mean we should give up. It means we need to try and fight even harder. We may never reach the point of being comfortable with this. We are not promised comfortable, but we are promised comfort.
2 Corinthians 1:3-7 (NLT) 3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. 4 He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. 5 For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. 6 Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. 7 We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us.
In the world we live in, I don't know how we live without that comfort.
