Let me disclaim this right at the outset – this is not something i have sorted. This is something i wrestle with. Because being comfortable is relative. My ‘simple’ is another person’s ‘luxury’ and my ‘lavish’ is someone else’s ‘scraping by’.
Which is perhaps why we should not be the ones defining comfortable, enough, simplicity et al. That feels like an area where we strongly need to be led by the Holy Spirit as the Bible is not clear in terms of how this looks within the specifics of modern day life and context.
But this is a topic which raised its ugly head again for me this week and i can’t think of a specific example that brought it to the fore. Just a bunch of things i’ve been reading and thinking about i guess.
My theory is this: Many christians that i know choose comfort over obedience.
And they do it in such a way that suggests that this is the Godly way to go about stuff. As if God wants us to be comfortable.
Time and time again, i am dumbfounded by people who can read the bible and see something one way again and again and again and yet somehow end up with the belief that a Godly reality is otherwise.
FOR EXAMPLE
Jesus meets up with a young man [Matthew 19] and tells him that he will have to sell everything he has in order to be a follower. The young man walks away disappointed because he has great wealth.
Jesus has a meal with Zacchaeus [Luke 19] and Zachaeus responds by telling Jesus he will immediately give half of his possessions to the poor and pay back four times the amount to anyone he has cheated.
Jesus is hanging out at a dinner party shortly before He is arrested [John 12] and a woman comes in and pours perfume, worth a year’s wages, over His feet too symbolically prepare Him for burial.
In Matthew 8, a teacher of the law tells Jesus he wants to follow Him and Jesus responds by saying that “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” Another disciple has the request of burying his father before he follows Jesus who responds, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
In Matthew 10, Jesus speaks these uncomforting words: ‘You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.’
How is it possible to read those stories [and others, see the Beatitudes for a long list of more] and come to the conclusion that God is calling us to comfort. Before Justice. Or Mercy. Or Disciple-Making. Or Love.
Or Obedience…
WE HAVE CHOSEN COMFORT OVER OBEDIENCE
In 1 Samuel 15, Saul has disobeyed God’s command on how to deal with a city in the interests of creating a burned offering for God. So it seems, for a minute, that his intentions are good.
22 But Samuel replied:
“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the Lord?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
he has rejected you as king.”
To obey is better than sacrifice.
In Matthew 5 we see that making peace with someone is a bigger priority than offering a gift to the Lord.
i’m not so sure that being comfortable is bad. i don’t think i’m saying that.
But when it comes at the expense of obedience or other things Jesus calls us to…
When it becomes the thing we firmly set our eyes on above all other…
Well then i am saying, that we need to be doing some wrestling and heart-searching and Jesus-following, so that we don’t end up one day standing in front of God with Him looking at us and saying, “I never knew you.” [Matthew 7]
Anyone else wrestling with this? Any thoughts you have on either comfort or obedience? i would love to hear about it in the comments…
[To take a look at some of my favourite verses in the bible, click here]
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Irresistibly Fish 
I haven’t written a blog post in a long while and last night I lay in bed thinking about this very topic and thinking “Maybe tomorrow i’ll write about it”.
I turned to my friend yesterday after class and said “Don’t you ever just feel too comfortable?”
She looked at me so confused!
So I said “We drive our comfortable cars and go to our comfortable churches and we put or comfortable tithes in the offering plate and we lift our comfortable hands and go back home and lay our in our comfortable beds and sleep.”
nothing changes. Where’s my heart change? Where’s my stretching? Where’s my getting up at daybreak and pleading with the Lord on things I want to happen in my life, or on the changes that need to happen in my heart, or a hunger to know Him more.
Man, I want to be Uncomfortably thirsty for Him. A discomfort that makes me get up off my comfortable butt and obey Him. Obedience is better than sacrifice.
I want to follow Him and know Him and Know that I know HIm so well I can’t be taken captive by deceptive philosophies around me– because I so easily fall into other things. I so easily take upon myself idols in my heart, I so easily and captivated by my flesh. And held Captive.
But I am soul searching, I am digging around- sort of like you said- to take my thoughts Captive to Christ and to die with Him and accept new life. I’m soul searching to pour my life out as an offering by serving others and making myself uncomfortable for Him.
Comfort isn’t bad. No. But, comfort is my idol. It’s my Idol!
Have I been thinking about this? You bet. Day and night it’s plagued me. And then I woke up this morning and read this… And it haunts.
Thank you so much – guess it’s not just me then. And pointing it out or being aware of it is the easy part. How do we move from there to action? And what is the action? i don’t necessarily believe that for everyone it is ‘sell everything and give the money to the poor’ [although it could be?] but i do know with all my heart that i have to be ready to respond positively the moment i do believe Jesus is calling me to do that.
We are just about to move into a new house we are renting and one of the big focus points is being a space for hospitality and inviting people around for meals and difficult or world-transforming conversations [that lead to action] and so we are trusting that this place will be that – so hopefully there will be some ideas and stories to share in the next few weeks once we’ve moved in and settled down a little but before we get too comfortable…
Keep listening to those voices
You are not alone
And the majority of people will not respond well to this message because of the potential cost attached
love brett fish
Hey Brett,
I completely agree with you when you say that you don’t necessarily believe that action means all of us selling everything and giving money to the poor. I concur. I think it means to be ready, to have it in our heart to obey no matter how we feel. I think we should be ready to look at life, and the things within our life, with an open-handed mentality.
When I close my hands around something it becomes an idol and instead of raising my hands to Jesus, I’ve got clenched fists and cannot give or receive!
I love, love, love that you said that you guys are getting a bigger house and hoping to incorporate some type of hospitality! I support this! Awesome sauce.
Thank you for your encouragement. I will keep listening and continue to wrestle! Thanks for the courage it took to post this blog! I’m seriously considering posting my own… Maybe.
Sara
Thankx a lot – if you want to, email me a copy [brettfish@hotmail.com] and i can maybe add it on here as well…
I have a challenge for you:
Give up all forms of TV and cricket watching for exactly one full year starting from now. Give up other frivolous activities like board games and other silly pursuits that you do.
Take that time and use it for the Lord’s purpose. Do you hear me? Do the will of Jesus and he will certainly not wish you to be languishing all day and being a laze-about.
If you can do this, I’ll do the same and give up drinking and use that money for the poor.
If you refuse the challenge, your blog words are just the empty and frivolous banter of a hypocrite.
Then challenge someone else to do a year of……….
THE ONE YEAR CHALLENGE! This is what people are dong for Christ. If you are a real man you will be able to give up one year and serve better with intent!
Again, i prefer the changed life challenge. If it’s worth stopping for a year then it’s worth at least asking the question of whether or not it should be a permanent lifestyle or habit change…
i appreciate the challenge, Clayton, however, i would probably appreciate it a little more from someone who knows me a little better. i don’t watch a whole lot of tv [we have been living with friends who have a tv and so have watched more but are about to move into our own place and one of our purposeful life choices so far has been to not have a tv].
Frivolous activities like board games and sport watching does sound like a thing worth giving up. Excepting that i have already planned to use some upcoming world cup cricket games as a great opportunity to hang out with some of my new black friends who i have only met online and not spent real time with – cricket is something Avuyile and i both enjoy and so we will use the opportunity to connect and get to know each other and it will surely just increase the relationship we have which is being used to speak into situations of race and reconciliation and justice in this country – all things on God’s heart i feel. Same with games – they are an integral part of our community building and tend to be places and times where people gather who are instrumental in the conversations we have on faith and good living and community and justice.
So yes, the call to be more aware of how i spend my time and the activities i engage in is absolutely received and welcome and needs to come regularly. i also tend to be someone who operates on a lot less sleep than most people and so when i’m in form and waking up at 5am as i tend to do [although not the last week so much] then i have maybe 2, 3 hours more than most people in my day which allows me to fit in the extensive blogging and internettage that is part of my regular rhythm,
They say before you criticise someone walk a mile in their shoes. If you did that with me, you’d realise i typically don’t wear shoes.
While a year of not doing this or that [i gave up Coke drinking and chocolate for a year once] can be helpful in some ways in terms of focus or whatever, i think changing habits completely or re-evaluating how you spend time or money or focus is far more valuable and would love you to still consider giving up some of your drinking money to the poor – or better yet, find some poor to be in relationship with and see what develops from there.
Thankx for stopping by
brett fish