God of Comfort

A smooth sea never made a skillful sailor.

-- English proverb

I came across this proverb earlier this week, and loved its potent simplicity. We instantly know it to be true, and it's far more elegant than a simple statement of fact, "Sailors become skilled through rough seas."

Everything in this statement is premised on the goal - a skillful sailor. That's what we want most out of sailor! If we're in the boat, we can excuse just about everything else if the sailor is skillful. Given the choice between a really polite unskilled sailor and a salty, brash, skilled sailor, we'd take the skilled one every time, especially in rough seas. Unless, of course, we're not in the boat. Then we just want him to be nice.

If this proverb is generally true, then why do we pray for God to give us "smooth seas" more than for Him to make us into "skillful sailors"?

Like the proverb, everything about prayer is premised on the goal. According to our prayers, it seems our goal is all too often that we would have smooth sailing. "Lord, just make the interview go smoothly. Just help the move be without any troubles. Just let my conversation with the principal to go OK. Just lower those waves a bit ... no ... a lot."

But that's not Jesus' goal for us. His goal for you is that you increasingly resemble Him in every way possible, much like a skillful sailor, experienced in navigating life as a follower, even when the swells are high. If that's the goal, then everything about prayer should be premised on that, praying for God to make us more Christlike rather than asking Him to take away the rough seas that produce skillful sailors.

A Christlike follower is what Jesus wants most out of a follower. If we're "in the boat," committed to the life of following Christ, then it's what we should want most, too - for ourselves and others. Unless, of course, we're not in the boat, unconcerned about the purpose of the sea. Then smooth seas are about the only thing left to pray for.

Guide your prayers toward the goal Jesus has ... as you pray for yourself, for your family and those closest to you, for your fellow believer, and for those who do not know Jesus. Pray for God to develop skillful sailors, and also pray for the rough seas necessary to make them so. When the seas are already rough, pray first for the rough seas to hone the skills of the sailor, and then for the waves to subside. We don't need to pray for hardship and heartache. We certainly don't need to develop a martyr mentality. However, we can certainly set our prayers on what Jesus wants most.

God is the "God of Comfort." That does not mean He's the God of comfortableness, but that He comforts those who are afflicted and overwhelmed. If you are feeling overwhelmed right now, the waves are crashing over the rails, I'm not lowering the boom and expecting you to buck up and just grow. "To the task, you scurvy dog ... Arrrrrrr!!!!" There are times when we just need comfort from the God of Comfort.

On the other hand, I do want to keep a weather eye to the horizon of discipleship and check ourselves that we're not praying for God to take away the rough seas He intends for the purpose of making skillful sailors.

I'm not asking you to leave your comfort zone

"Leaving your comfort zone" is a social virtue. Regardless of context (at home, at work, in your community of faith, in a social or hobby club), kudos abound for those who leave their comfort zone. Leaders often ask their groups to step out of their comfort zones in order to try something new and, perhaps, enjoy some kind of new benefit. When we do, then we high five each other and give attaboys. And then we return to our comfort zones.

A "comfort zone" is commonly described as that sphere that surrounds you - within that sphere is comfort, and outside that sphere is some level of discomfort, whether slight or severe or something in between. We, being creatures who gravitate toward comfort, spend a lot of time inside that sphere or "zone," and the common wisdom is that it's a good thing to leave that comfort zone on occasion. And then return.

I have been bugged by the concept of "comfort zone" on the simple basis that comfort should not be our primary ethic. Comfort should not be that controlling value by which most decisions are made. With this mindset, leaving our comfort zone can become something "heroic" in our own eyes because we dared to challenge this primary ethic. I tried sushi - how daring and brave!

So, I began to talk in terms of "expanding your comfort zone" instead of leaving it (and then returning). Wouldn't it be better if we just expanded that sphere so that we were more comfortable with more things (without compromising morals)? Going to a foreign country to help in an orphanage then is not the brave "leaving your comfort zone" but the humble "expanding your comfort zone." Rather than enduring uncomfortable things more often, we are more comfortable with more things. We actually grow - increasing the number of things we're comfortable doing and encountering is a kind of growth.

But that still didn't answer the issue in a satisfactory way for me.

Lately, I've been toying with the idea that it's not really a "comfort zone" at all. It's a "control zone." It's the sphere inside which I feel like I have enough control, and outside which I feel like I don't have enough control. The sense of "comfort," then, is a byproduct of how much control I feel. If this is the right view, then my primary ethic is not my arbitrary level of comfort, but a question of who's in charge.

If God is truly God, He is then truly sovereign, perfectly loving, and completely purposeful. Everything is within His "control zone." And if I am truly His child, then the sphere of my control is entirely subsumed by His. Now, leaving my control zone is to enter His. It is not this brave, temporary venture beyond my level of comfort, but a matter of trust. If I do not trust God to know what He's doing, I will not leave my control zone. If I do trust that His sovereign involvement is actual and not just theoretical, I can leave my control zone and enter into His.

As we talk about living more missional lives, I'm not asking you to leave your comfort zone. I'm asking you to leave your control zone. And to enter His.

Comfy?

What stops us? We know we should get our sinful habits under control, but we hang onto them. We know we should be sharing the Good News more readily, but we avoid opportunities that are placed right in front of us. We know we should waste less time, spend less on entertainment, carve out more time for prayer and Bible study, and stop being a jerk at work. What stops us? (I'm not being too harsh - Paul wondered the same thing about himself in Romans 7.)

It's not just one thing - it's never just one thing. But there is one thing that is often one of the primarily culprits. Comfort. Not Comfort, really, but our pursuit of Comfort. We do nothing instead of something because we just want to relax and be comfortable. We don't share our faith when we see a clear opportunity to, because the situation might get ... heaven forbid ... uncomfortable. We spend money on pampering ourselves and less on impacting others for Jesus because pampery things are so comforting.

Comfort can become a god. It can be the altar we sacrifice everything in our lives for. It can determine how we spend a weekend, how we steward money, and how we treat others. Comfort can even dictate our church ministry, rather than the other way around. Comfort can call the shots and receive all our gifts and offerings. We even pray to God to make things more comfortable, often in lieu of asking Him to make things more righteous.

The god of Comfort is decimating the church in our society. We (the modern Western church) give less sacrificially, because we've moved from a sacrificial model of giving to a comfort-level model of giving - we give until just before it hurts. Fewer people are willing to sacrifice their careers in order to serve the church or the mission field. We've become timid with that which we should not be ashamed of. We boast about getting out of our "comfort zone" for as long as ... two whole hours! (It's sad how "comfort zone" is one of our most common phrases when talking about outreach - it shouldn't even be a second thought!)

Why? We know better. We see it in others and in ourselves. We don't like reading articles like this because we know it applies to us (it hurts to even write this!). Why? Because like the prodigal son, we want our inheritance NOW. God has promised us ultimate comfort in His Kingdom - with all joy, all glory, all access to God. More comfort and peace and satisfaction than we can imagine. Rather than trust Him that it's coming in full, we pursue it in part here and now - by avoiding things that make us uncomfortable to the detriment of the purpose of the Church.

Where's the line? Those who were called "ascetics" responded to this truth by intentionally creating a lifestyle of suffering - nothing comfortable allowed! But all they accomplished was throwing away the god of Comfort in favor of the god of Discomfort, who then started calling the shots and receiving the sacrifices.

Our Stewardship series is perhaps the best place to begin. The Master gave us all our resources, including time, and then left for an unspecified duration. He's coming back, and will ask us to render account for our stewardship. He will not ask, "Were you comfortable?" He will ask, "Were you faithful?" We fight the god of Comfort by worshiping and obeying the God of Everything, and surrendering all things, including Comfort, to Him in order to steward well all He has given us.

Do not let Comfort call the shots. Do not let Discomfort tell you you're more righteous than the Comfortites. Be a steward of comfort, making it obey your will, in total submission to the one true God.

We Want to Make Sense of This

Like most of you, I have read the array of opinions about the shocking massacre in Newtown, CT, last Friday. People blaming mental illness, people blaming gun laws, people chalking it up to free will, people saying its because we've taken God out of the schools (which is impossible to do!), even a certain religious group blaming the sexual morals of the country. While writing this article, I received an email suggesting that if we just put prayer back in the schools, we can avoid future tragedies.

We want answers - we want to know why. We can accept it just a little bit more if there's some sense to it. But this particular incident is more senseless, more disconcerting than previous tragedies. This one seems to have gotten under our skin more, grieved us more, and worried us more than just about every other.

An acquaintance of mine posted the idea that those who say "everything happens for a reason" are cruel, simplistic liars, and that some things happen for no reason at all. It certainly does feel that way. How can something like this make sense? How can this have happened for a reason under the auspices of a sovereign Being?

Others have posted words of comfort. On top of wanting reasons, we want comfort. We don't want to walk around scared, constantly worried about the welfare of our children going to school every day. We want some assurance that this could never happen to us, and yet we know that the surviving parents in Newtown thought the exact same thing less than a week ago.

I don't know about you, but out of all of this, nothing I've read has been satisfying. (This article won't be satisfying, either.) Most articles oversimplify the problem - but to be honest, the simplicity is appealing. Wouldn't it be nice and manageable if the problem were actually that simple?

My question, though, is not "How could this happen?", but "Why hasn't this happened more?" All the probable culprits, from mental illness to secularization of society to saturating ourselves with first-person-shooter video games, are traceable back to the fallenness of man. This is not to oversimplify the problem - it is complex journey back to the Fall. But since fallenness is the root cause, and all are fallen, why hasn't this happened more?

The answer is Grace. By God's grace, the destructive ferocity of our fallenness has not been allowed to rage unchecked. That is what Hell is - a completely grace-free zone where man’s fallenness is left unrestrained. Although this world is not Heaven (which is a completely grace-filled zone with no fallenness at all to restrain), this world has some measure of God's grace, and that grace protects us from ourselves.

This grace allows us the chance to know and receive Christ. It is the same grace that expelled Adam and Eve from the garden and prevented them from returning to seal their fallen state forever. Without this grace, we would not have the opportunity to repent. When that grace is removed, there will remain no chance at all to repent. This kind of horrible incident is not more frequent precisely because God's grace presently protects us from the depths of how far we've fallen.

I don't know why this happened or how to prevent it from happening again. I can't say the words to ease our fears. But I am grateful for the grace that prevents our fallenness from wreaking the havoc it is capable of.

Comfort Zone

We've received great reports from youth group who are at Challenge this week! Good attitudes, good outreach projects, openness to letting the Word make a real difference in their lives. I'm looking forward to hearing stories from the full week after they return.

One of the events that our youth participated in was offering to pray with people who passed by them on the street. Apparently, it was a great experience - even though the thought of it must have been nerve-wracking at first. But, they jumped in, and saw God move in the lives of people. They were taken beyond their "comfort zone" - that space in which we feel comfortable and safe.

You've heard dozens of times "go beyond your comfort zone," whether in church, in business, or in school. It's a challenge to venture beyond that boundary between safe and risky, between comfortable and unsure. Jesus continually challenged people to step out of their comfort zones. You cannot come to Christ in faith without leaving your comfort zone, and you cannot serve the mission He has for you without passing that border.

But I prefer a different phrase than "go beyond your comfort zone." I would rather challenge you to "expand your comfort zone." Not only go beyond the borders, but then extend those borders! Bust through them as Jesus challenges us to, but then change them. Once you do something like praying with a total stranger, rather than retreat back into your same ol' comfort zone, redraw the boundaries to now include things like praying with total strangers.

Call it "gerrymandering for Christ"! Change your borders to include more and more of the things Christ wants us to do in your new, improved comfort zone. Stretch, but don't forget to then grow!