Fighting with Comfort

Comfort is a subtle, yet strong weapon that Satan can use to take our eyes off Jesus.

We can become comfortable with our jobs, our finances, our social status, the size of our house, our reputation, our relationship status, the size of our family, the success of our children. When people ask how we are doing, we say, "Great!" Is that 'great' a measurement of: how comfortable we feel in our current circumstances or how confident we are in who God is and His character, despite our circumstances?

What happens when our circumstances are hard? What happens when you don't have that well-paying job to go to? What happens when your family unit grows increasingly dysfunctional? What happens when your pennies are stretched or altogether disappear? What happens when your children make poor decisions? What happens when you've prayed and prayed and found no relief?

One's response to these things reveals the heart's posture, towards or away from God. He says in the sixth chapter of the book of Matthew:

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Verses 19-34.

God asks us for our full devotion - to trust in Him and only Him. He is sovereign. He is in control of all the things that are going on. He has a plan and a purpose.

Recently, I have felt the temptation to despair and if I'm honest, I've given into it. I've let my circumstances define my joy. I've let the hard cause me to doubt God's goodness and His care for me. I've rummaged to create a back-up plan, as if God would fail me.

There are some things we don't realize we are thankful for until they are taken away. Over the summer, I had issues with my eye. It forced me to be uncomfortable with my appearance. Then I remember my appearance isn't everything. God calls me beautiful and His beloved, despite the amount of make-up the world says I need to wear. How easy it is to give in to what the world says. The noise is so loud - blaring through the screens, papers, etc. What does 'the world' have to offer? Nothing in comparison to the greatness of God, through Jesus. I pray the voice of God is heard louder than the noise. You are created in God's image. You are made to be beautiful! God created you specifically for a purpose. You may not see the whole picture, but your life has value. You are worth it! You are worth it so much that God chose to die for you! He loves you that much!

This summer poses a possible transition in vocation for me. Only the Lord knows at this point what the next step is, but I found myself asking questions about why I wanted different kinds of jobs. The world says that we need to have a stable income, we need benefits, we need to stay in one place for a long time. I know these are good things, but it's not okay to find our stability and comfort in these things. If our hope is in finding a great job, we have a problem. God doesn't always work in the logical, straightforward way. Actually, He usually turns things upside-down. It would be great to have a job that I love, but I want my only hope to be in God. I'm not defined my job or lack thereof, but I'm defined by who God says that I am. I want my vocation to be a means to store up treasures in heaven, not on earth.

I know this isn't something I have to do on my own. The Lord is with me in it. He is working through it. He will provide. It may look different than I think right now, but He will be glorified through it. And that it why I don't have to be anxious. He cares for His creation. He cares for His daughter. And He will supply my every need. Because He knows me better than I know myself and He planned my days before I was even born. Thank God! May I trust His plans.

He doesn't call us to comfortable. He calls us to give Him glory through our circumstances. Let us fight to not be comfortable, but to find our comfort in Him and only Him.