COMFORT

I was reading the Bible chapter, Matthew, and came across a story that intrigued me. I spoke with my dad about it over the phone and feel compelled to write on it. Before telling you the story I hope that we can all agree that our comfort zone is our failure zone. It's a strong statement to make but I believe it to be true. The only time we fail is when we do nothing to move forward and this tends to happen when we are comfortable. 

In Matthew 8:28-34 there's a story of Jesus walking through a city called Gadarenes. The city was known to have an area that was violent due to the demon possessed people that attacked anyone that came through. Of course, Jesus felt the need to walk through that specific area. The two men who were possessed approached Him and asked why He was there. There were pig herders in the area and the Bible speaks about the demons begging for Christ to drive them into the pigs. All Jesus said was GO. Now that could preach on its own. He didn't entertain them; He just simply commanded them to Go. Wow all that authority (my dad spoke on this today for our online service - check it out)! Anyways, It's the next part that I want to focus on. 

When the demons fled the men and went into the pigs, the pigs ran off the into the water and drown there. The pig herders were eager to tell the city what they had seen. The response from the people once they saw Christ was the shocking part. They begged Him to leave their city. I'm sorry, what? He literally just delivered these men who were demon possessed and the city folk are like get out. Now, you probably know where I am going with this, but, maybe not. Stick with me. 

Sometimes we are so close to our breakthrough, our freedom, our answer, our reprieve and yet we stay right where we are and sometimes we push away the answer to our prayers. Why do we do that? Because we are comfortable in our misery. When I say we are comfortable I mean we are used to it, we are accustom to it. We fear the change, we fear the unknown and we fear that we will end up in deeper disappointment than we are in already. It takes vulnerability and courage to step out in faith and follow Christ or step out and be uncomfortable. We block ourselves all because we are comfortable and fearful. 

I only speak of this because I have paralyzed myself for years. After all, I have wanted to create this blog for years and only started it at the end of 2020. Why did I wait so long? I was fearful of what could happen, what if no one read it, what if people thought my writing was horrible, what if no one thought I was funny, what if I couldn't communicate my thoughts properly? The question we should be asking is what am I truly loosing and risking by moving forward? If I fail (which is a state not a characteristic) I am back exactly where I started. It is almost always a lower risk than we make it out to be.

The other thing that catches my attention is the they literally were in the face of unrestrained opportunity with Jesus there and they begged him to leave, pleaded with him, implored him to leave. Comfort can cripple us to a point of pure desperation to remain the same. I don't know about you but remaining the same year after year terrifies me. We are a people who were made to evolve in knowledge and grow in wisdom, to remain the same is to deny ourself the opportunity of becoming all Christ has for us. We block our own blessing and we block a relationship with the ultimate comfort. 

I hope, like me, you are able to reflect and see where in your life you are comfortable and content, yet you feel a tug to be vulnerable and move forward into the unknown. Have faith step out and get uncomfortable. 

Wish Me Love 💙