Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Comfortable?

What Are We?

Could it be that we are a people living each day with little purpose, greatly driven by fear, desiring what’s normal, and avoiding extremes?

Much of us fail to realize in the many years of our existence, we have been conditioned to accept mediocrity and to become "comfortable."

but...What is comfortable?

We all know the feeling of waking up to an alarm. In most cases the snooze button is within arm’s reach. We awaken in a state of comfortability. Finally conscious enough to realize just how good the bed feels. It is a feeling we do not want to end and therefore, we hit snooze again and again, postponing reality for as long as we can. In those moments we are disillusioned just long enough to miss out on the reason the alarm was set in the first place. Our choice to remain comfortable causes us to become complacent. The resulting complacency does not come without consequence. This "comfortability" leads to potential tardiness, lack of preparedness, and increased stress as we rush to wherever we have to be. We also often don't look our best because we didn't give ourselves enough time and rushing can lead to us forgetting an item of importance.

Little do we know that this may cause a domino effect negatively impacting the rest of our day. Not looking our best...the stress...being tardy to work or school…those things can damage relationships and/or people’s perceptions of who we are…

This is just one example of how comfortable situations can be deceptive in nature. As I think about my life and the examples of great men in the bible, I realize rarely is it possible to be in a place of comfort and be pleasing God simultaneously. This is likely because “without faith it is impossible to please God” and faith calls us to act outside of the comfort zone. “Faith without works is dead” and often it is so much easier to not do anything.

SO if the goal is to live a life pleasing to God and experience the blessings he has for us, then why do we settle for mediocrity? It can’t be simply because we don’t want to act. We all want to see change in our lives. We want to experience the happiness and fulfillment that God has purposed us for (even if we don’t know it). Everyone craves happiness. However, just like slaves in the old days, it is easier to be led by fear and to seek comfort inside a lesser standard of life.

“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11)

God desires to prosper you and bring your life to a level of happiness you could have never imagined. And all throughout his word, he equips us with a plan for success. That plan is simple…live, breath, operate on faith!

Hebrews chapter 11 gives tons of examples of faith in action:

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.
3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.

5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.

8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going...11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she[b] considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”[c] 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.

20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.

21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

22 By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.

23 By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.

24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.

29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.

30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.

31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.[d]

32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies……………

Simply put, every scripture in the bible, every interaction with the God, of all creation, every experience in this life  is demanding that we leave the realm of comfortability and take a leap of faith! Living by faith is proving that you trust God with your situation and your life! Let him do his thing! He is knocking at the door and he has a gift that will rock your world! Activate your faith and open the door!

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