God doesn't care about your comfort, and neither should you

I'm a comfort junky, and if I had to guess, so are most of you.

We live in a world of instant gratification. Hot coffee at a push of a button, fast food on every corner, our favorite shows stream, and we can connect with friends the moment we think of them through social media. Waiting is so rare that when we are inconvenienced, we spend more time complaining about the inconvenience than the time it actually took from us.

Life is great, as long as the systems work, and we are comfortable. But what happens when it gets uncomfortable?

Guess what. God doesn't care about your comfort nearly as much as you do, and you shouldn't either. God's waiting for us to step out of our comfort zone and start living into our purpose. He's given us a mission, and it's past time to start doing it.

Take the next step

What happens when we feel the Holy Spirit prodding us to go somewhere we’ve never been? Do something we’ve never done?

Here's the thing. When we learn to sit in discomfort, we start to change. We start to see God working. God can do some extraordinary things if we would just step out of our comfort zones.

Throughout Scripture, men and women are called to step out of their comfort zones because there was a mission for them to fulfill. We never hear God saying, "Oh, if this works for you, that is."

Even Jesus wasn't overly comfortable with the mission that lay before him. In Mark 14:35-36, he prays that if there is another way, he'd like to take it, but ultimately says God's will is the way he will go. I don't know about you, but the cross and all that came with it doesn't sound like God was interested in comfort. God was mission-focused, and Jesus followed through.

God is our comfort

In uncomfortable seasons God can do extraordinary things in our lives. When we refuse to step out of our comfort zone to take that first step into the unfamiliar areas God has called us, we are robbing ourselves of being a part of what we as a church have been called to be.

God doesn’t care about your comfort. He is your comfort. No matter where He calls and leads God goes along with you for the ride. His comfort isn’t the cushy life we’ve grown accustomed to. Instead, the comfort we are offered is knowing God will never abandon us no matter how difficult life gets, no matter how far we are asked to go, no matter what it costs.

God has broken through the barriers built up by tradition and culture. We are being called to keep pushing forward, to keep living into our calling and to get uncomfortable!  The next step is ours.