When questioned about carrying a large 1911 pistol, well known firearms instructor, Clint Smith said: “Carrying a gun is not supposed to be comfortable, it’s supposed to be comforting”. There’s a good bit of wisdom in that statement– not only in regards to carrying a gun, but for many things in life. We are too concerned about being comfortable. A man I’m not familiar with, Hayden Norris wrote these words about this problem:
I like comfort. A comfortable chair. A comfortable bed. A comfortable temperature in the room. I like to be comfortable. However, pursuing comfort in my Christian walk presents a problem.
Christianity is not supposed to make our lives easier. It’s just the opposite according to the Bible. It makes life more difficult for a lot of reasons. When we follow Christ, we are told to be different. This causes us to “swim upstream.” Because we will be different, we can expect certain things to happen that aren’t easy or at all comfortable. We should expect mocking, slander, and opposition. Why? Because that is what Jesus our Lord experienced (John 15:18-25). Our best life is not now! Our best life is not here! We always have access to the Lord’s joy, comfort, and peace, but easy and physically comfortable, no.
—Jesus didn’t pursue the comfort of this world. He went “outside the camp” for you and me. And He tells us He expects us to do the same for His name.
“Therefore let us go to Him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured”(Hebrews 11:13). So, what does it look like to “go outside the camp” in our lives today? We“bear His reproach” by standing up for Christ. We tell people we are Christians. — We bear His reproach by telling friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers about Jesus’ sacrifice for their sin. They may not like it and just may “stone you outside the camp” like the people of his day did to Paul. More likely, we just won’t get included in many social settings–and that hurts too. Regardless, we need to bear His reproach by living for Him and shedding the things that are holding us back from pursuing Him.
So I have to ask myself and you, “What are we living for? Comfort or Christ?”— Good question! How would you answer?
