New Reminders: Comfort

I grew up on a Wisconsin dairy farm.  My family worked hard.  My four older sisters all seemed to enjoy working in the fields with our dad as well as in the house and garden with Mom.  My brother, who was the fifth child, and the only boy, was always right out there with my dad learning the farming business.  He worked as hard as any grown man by the time he was twelve.  I, being the youngest, did not particularly like hard work, outdoors or in, but given a choice, I always chose to work indoors.  I actually enjoyed cooking and baking and even the satisfaction of ironing our clothes well.  Outdoor work, on the farm, was outside my comfort zone.  It was too dependent on the unpredictable weather, the health of the crops or the animals and the condition of the farming equipment and my ability to know how to use it.  For those very reasons, by the time I was twelve, I knew I never wanted to be a farmer.

During a podcast, Gavin Adams referenced a quote from his interview with Frank Blake, the former CEO of Home Depot.  Blake said, “People are always looking to maximize their personal predictability.”  We value comfort above almost anything else, so we work hard to keep things familiar, but growth usually occurs in discomfort. Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast, 1/1/24

The good thing about Christianity is that there are many things that are absolutely predictable.  God is always present, and His grace is always sufficient.  Salvation is there for the taking, and if we believe, heaven is waiting for us all.  The scripture is clear, we have nothing to be anxious about.  The problem is not with God or even with religion, it is with us.  We become anxious because, in spite of all the comforting predictability, there are many things we can’t predict.  As it says in Ecclesiastes 10:14 “They chatter on and on.  No one really knows what is going to happen; no one can predict the future.”  Or, Matthew 24:36 "No one knows when that day or hour will come—not the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”   We worry, because, we are afraid we might be caught in a sinful state, and won’t have a chance to get right with God.  This is why we need to do as it says in Colossians 4:2, “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.”  The writer was warning us that we need to be alert always, ready to thwart the devil’s efforts to lead us astray.  But if we are following God’s plans for us, we have nothing to worry about.