Are you comfortable being comfortable?

   My son Judah loves to watch Thomas the Train. Although we were blessed with many new gifts this Christmas, he always seems to default back to his trains. I am convinced that he could play with them all day long. The other funny thing is that he loves to watch Thomas on you tube. But not the episodes.  He likes to watch other kids play with their toys. It is so funny!  The craziest thing is that these clips have thousands if not millions of hits.  I guess other kids like to do the same thing and I am amazed at the free time parents have to help make these videos.

   After having a very social child first, I am glad to have a child who can play by himself.  However, I am also extremely inconvenienced when his videos are finished (only after 2 to 5 minutes) and I have to get up from the couch just to find another video and click the mouse. Does he not understand that I am busy trying to be comfortable?

    Aren't we all?

   I was interested in how Mr. Webster defined the word "comfortable" and he reads, "affording or enjoying contentment and security."  Wow.  It seems like so long since I've felt content or secure.  And God knows I sure haven't stopped trying to fill those voids. There are many ways that we try to feel comfortable.  We buy.  We eat. We try.  We meet.  Just maybe we will find that perfect thing or person who will make us feel content and secure.

    I've found myself in Luke's gospel this week. In chapter 10, Jesus was sending out his disciples and he says, "don't take any money with you, nor a traveler's bag, not an extra pair of sandals. And don't stop to greet anyone on the road." He tells them to leave their families, their comfortable places and follow Him. Later on in the chapter, he shows us through the good samaritan how to give...uncomfortably.  And then gives us a picture of a lady who was trying to make everyone else comfortable (by people pleasing) and missing the big picture of sitting at His feet.
   
          I find it interesting that in all three of these instances feeling content or secure seemed impossible.  However, the disciples were content and secure because they were living in the "seems crazy, upside down" Kingdom of God. The samaritan could've kept walking and it would have "seemed" to be the more comfortable thing for him to do. In his giving, he made someone else content and secure.  For Martha, she was busy "doing",instead of "being."  She may have had the right idea of serving, but were her motives and intentions meant to make herself feel good? Jesus gently reminds Martha, that Mary had chosen the one thing that was worth being concerned about.  Instead of scurrying around trying to please, she was sitting getting to know the only One who can make one feel comfortable.

     Many times we want to run from our problems.  We do what we need to do to be comfortable.  We even leave the uncomfortable places to avoid confrotation or rejection.  We move away or leave our churches.  We find new friends and buy new houses.  It's true that comfort food feels good when consumed, but what will happen if that is all we eat?

     Let us push past the feeling of being uncomfortable. Because being comfortable is not about how you feel or what you do. I am convinced that "affording or enjoying contentment and security"  can only come when we choose to be uncomfortable for the Kingdom, give unselfishly, and sit at His feet...
(and while you are at it,get up off the couch and push play for your son!)

Psalm 119:76

New Living Translation (NLT)

 ⁷⁶ Now let your unfailing love comfort me,
      just as you promised me, your servant.