Why do we do what is comfortable?

Let me first begin by saying...I HAVE MISSED BLOGGING! My internet has been down for over 2 months, and WOWZERS...one of the precious luxuries of living in a suburban town north of Dallas, blessed with a job and a home, and the wonderful internet!



Okay, a sermon that our pastor preached a couple of weeks ago inspired me to do some thinking...some really deep thinking! We were concluding a study on the book of Galations and pastor was sharing with us various "Areas of Love."



One of the "Areas of Love" that he mentioned was that we love our COMFORT. This is oh so true...more than what most are willing to admit, I believe. It doesn't matter what it is...we DEMAND comfort. Comfortable clothes, relationships, socially comfortable privateness, furniture, roles in life, hobbies, and the list goes ON and ON. I started thinking about the areas in my life that I demand to be a certain way because it is "COMFORTABLE." Here are some things I realized through my reflection:



- my home

- I want more and more to increase the level of comfortableness in my home

- my car - I had to have the big one so that our family would have plenty of room and we would be comfortable when driving anywhere together (which very rarely happens...even on Sundays to church)

- my job - in a super nice building with an amazing team! Yes, I am comfortable there!

- in our town, we have settled into the routine and we have built some great friendships and we continue to grow more in those and in new ones...this definetely makes life more comfortable

- our schedule - granted not the most "ideal" most weeks, but we have grown used to the routine

- THE LIST GOES ON AND ONE...



So in this sermon, I hear our pastor say, "If you've given your life to Jesus - forget about comfort, you have a calling...." I know he went on to discuss this and to explain the scripture from this. BUT, I stopped there. I thought about our dear dear friends, the Waits, who picked up everything they knew...all of their comforts and threw them out the window. They moved their entire family (all 6 of them) to Puerto Lempira, Honduras to serve Christ as missionaries.



I know I have blogged about, thought about, most importantly :) prayed about...what is my calling? What is God asking of me? I KNOW I am called to mission work, for the time being it seems that is short-term missions. BUT...what are the possibilities? There are a plethora of them!



In terms of comfort...in preparation for my November Mission trip to Puerto Lempira, Honduras we having been communicating frequently with Laura we found out that there is a HUGE need for lice treatments. Is this a pleasant topic? NO. Is this comfortable? NO. But will I serve in this area? Yes. The thought of administering 50 or so treatments of lice on 50 different kids is not the most glamourous thought, but then Jesus washed and cleaned people's feet...so I will wash people's hair!



Later in this same sermon, our pastor asked us something along the lines of ..."Will you serve the outcasts in the world as if you are serving Christ himself?" WOW...that pretty much puts it out there huh?



To conclude in my reflection on that for today, let me first say that I pray that God uses me in whatever way He calls! Second, I pray that God PLEASE give me the opportunity to love on and serve the "outcasts"! Oh but to be given that opportunity...what a blessing it is! Third, can you IMAGINE what the world would be like if every Christian put themselves in an "uncomfortable" position in order to do what God calls them to do? What if when God calls us to do something, we do it? What would this world be like? Hmmm....