ARE WE COMFY?

Back in my youthful days, I used to wear size 7-1/2 shoes.  Over time, something sinister, like gravity, has taken hold, and now my average shoe is a whopping size 9.  Since “comfort” is now my middle name, no 6-inch pointy-toed pinching instruments of torture for me.  No sirree, gimme shoes with stretchy fabric and marshmallowy insoles.

Yes, being comfortable seems to become more important the older I get.  I want things to be easy, not hard, I want to feel good, not bad.  I had a friend once say, “what is life, if not to be comfortable?”  I remember cringing at that remark … yet, here I am, craving comfort in my shoes, my pillows, and my car.

But thankfully, the Lord loves me so much that He’s spent the last 3 decades teaching me that life is more than squooshy comfort.  As I’m learning to know Him, I’ve found that sometimes His Word is not comfortable at ALL.  In fact, more often than not, it “pinches” my heart. And the crazy thing is, this is one area where I actually WANT to be somewhat uncomfortable.

So I need to check myself, as I do my daily reading.  Am I looking only for the “comfortable” verses?  Or do I want to experience growing pains from His words?  If I’m opening myself to Him as I read, and ask to be taught and convicted of sin, I know that He will do it.  He certainly wants me to be comfortable and secure in His love, promises, and salvation.  But beyond that, He also desires that I grow up in Christ (1 Peter 2:2; 2 Peter 3:18; Ephesians 4:15).  That means being willing to accept conviction and discipline.  I am blessed when He chastens me (Psalm 94:2).  He reproves me because He loves me, as His child (Proverb 3:11, 12).  Therefore, I accept the pinching of my soul and not reject it.

My compassionate, loving, and reproving Father, how I thank You that You have planted me into a church that doesn’t offer pinch-free sermons so that I can feel good about my sins (and no comfy spiritual shoes to walk through that very wide door to hell).  You have given me brothers and sisters in Christ who are able and willing to be the “Nathans” in my life (2 Samuel 12).  You didn’t save me just so I could have a comfortable life on this earth.  You saved me to glorify You, to grow in Christ, to do Your work which You have prepared for me to do (Ephesians 2:10), and ultimately, to be like You, and with You, for all eternity.  I praise You, that you have “opened my lips that my mouth may declare Your praise” (Psalm 51:15).