Comfy Shoppers

I was grocery shopping yesterday and I had to chuckle at something I saw. Strolling down the bread aisle, I passed a mom who was pushing her five- or six-year-old in the cart. Nothing wrong with this, but then I saw that she had brought from home a cushion for this boy to lounge in while she bought her groceries. And lounge he did. I had to smile. As I walked away, the sight got me thinking about just how much we humans love comfort.
We want big la-z-boys and cozy office chairs. We've reinvented the mattress to a point where it moves and forms to our bodies. But more than anything, we want to be comfortable with our relationships. Especially our relationship with Jesus. Jesus calls us to light the dark places of the world, but most of us are still afraid of the dark. We cling to our church walls and Christian friends because "sinners" make us uncomfortable. But even in Christian relationships, we refuse to be honest. We don't want to offend someone so we fail to tell them when they misstep. I'm not saying we should jump down their back, but we need to get over our discomfort with honest, loving correction. And we need to learn to accept it too, but more on that later.
I think one of my favorite quotes by C.S. Lewis is from the Chronicles of Narnia. The children were just told about Aslan (who represents Jesus in these books) and they are pretty scared because, well, he's a lion.  

"Ooh" said Susan. "I'd thought he was a man. Is he-quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion"..."Safe?" said Mr Beaver ..."Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.”

Jesus certainly isn't safe, but he's good. Just look at how he sends out his twelve closest friends in Matthew 11. He tells them that they will be flogged (vs. 17) and that everyone will hate them (22). And then he throws in that they shouldn't be afraid of death (28). I don't see this as the most comforting pep talk ever given for a first road trip.
Check out Paul in 2 Corinthians 11 for more. Stoned, flogged, shipwrecked, exhausted and more. Maybe Paul saw all this coming because his first meeting with a Christian after an encounter with Jesus forced that Christian to step way out of his comfort zone. Paul persecuted Christians until he became one and what does Jesus tell his one of his followers, Ananias, to do? He tells him to go greet Paul, the mass murderer, and heal him of blindness. Talk about uncomfortable! And Jesus doesn't just call us outside our physical comfort zone but our emotional one as well.
In Acts 10, Peter receives a vision from God that tells him to get over his racism. Jews were the Chosen People of God, they were clean while everyone else was unclean and impure. But he had a vision in which God told him that all he has made is clean and then proceeded to lead him to a group of non-Jews (or gentiles) to preach the Gospel. Peter had to step out of his comfort zone and when he did he claimed: "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right" (Acts 10:34-35). Only five chapters later, he was defending preaching the Gospel to gentiles.
Jesus told a man to stop worshiping money and follow him (Luke 18), God told Abram to leave his home (Genesis 12), and Noah to build a boat in a desert (Genesis 6). It is no Divine Secret Jesus has kept that life as a Christian will get uncomfortable. He even told his disciples to count the cost before they chose to follow him. "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower, won't you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?" (Luke 14:28). This right after he said "And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:27). Don't want to go out of your comfort zone? Don't follow Jesus. 
Trust me, this is as much for you as it is for me. It took me two years to gather up the courage to start writing this blog. I'm no theologian and certainly no writer, but after months of my excuses and nagging some from the Big Guy, I finally stepped out, and through it I have learned so much. So trust him. He is not safe, but he is good. He will not give you more than you can bear. And when you step out of your comfort zone, it's much easier to see how Paul calls him the God of all Comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3). When you step out of your comfort zone, he becomes your comfort and you step into his will for you. And I promise, his will and plan for you is more incredible than anything you can imagine. So give it a try, count the cost, and trust him.