RISK AND COMFORT
(This line of thought just sort of came out of my brain one day and I wanted to get it down some where before I completely lost it)
I value risk. It is more fun, exciting and even more rewarding than making a comfortable choice or decision.
But what about comfort? How much should a person value comfort? In making a decision, when is it the right move to do something that is comfortable?
I understand the common sense nature of this process. For example, if a person wants to take a hike in the woods they probably wouldn’t venture out at dusk in a location that has experienced recent bear attacks (random example). Maybe another example, a cash strapped individual should not purchase stock in a company with a reputation for little or no return on investment.
The discussion here revolves around more realistic life scenarios. Quitting a job you weren’t designed to do but you keep the job because it is safe, or sharing God’s message with a “threatening” person(s) regardless of personal well being. Does any of this make sense?
So this leads me back to the question. When is it the right thing to make a comfortable decision?
Mike Breaux wants said to the congregation at Willowcreek, “God doesn’t care about your comfort, He cares about your character.” I will never forget when I first heard that. It rattled my cage. Made sense to me then and, quite frankly, it still makes sense.
So I guess here’s my conclusion. It boils down to Kingdom Advancement. If you choose the comfortable decision and ultimately that choice hurts the advancement of God’s Kingdom, the wrong decision was made. As a Christ-Follower, you are first and foremost a carrier of God’s message. Pretty much everything else is secondary. Your comfort included.
Jesus allowed his body to be broken even though He didn’t really want it to happen (Luke 22: 39-42) because advancing God’s Kingdom was much more important than Jesus’ comfort. Take a look at Paul. He wanted to go to Rome no matter the consequences. His entire journey revolves about going to the riskiest place on earth because that’s where he had to advance the Kingdom. He knew death was a very, very good possibility when he arrived in Rome but the risk was worth taking.
At this point in this thinking process I guess the question should turn from risk or reward to this – will what I’m about to do help advance the kingdom of God or not? Is this decision more self serving or “other” oriented?
I value risk. It is more fun, exciting and even more rewarding than making a comfortable choice or decision.
But what about comfort? How much should a person value comfort? In making a decision, when is it the right move to do something that is comfortable?
I understand the common sense nature of this process. For example, if a person wants to take a hike in the woods they probably wouldn’t venture out at dusk in a location that has experienced recent bear attacks (random example). Maybe another example, a cash strapped individual should not purchase stock in a company with a reputation for little or no return on investment.
The discussion here revolves around more realistic life scenarios. Quitting a job you weren’t designed to do but you keep the job because it is safe, or sharing God’s message with a “threatening” person(s) regardless of personal well being. Does any of this make sense?
So this leads me back to the question. When is it the right thing to make a comfortable decision?
Mike Breaux wants said to the congregation at Willowcreek, “God doesn’t care about your comfort, He cares about your character.” I will never forget when I first heard that. It rattled my cage. Made sense to me then and, quite frankly, it still makes sense.
So I guess here’s my conclusion. It boils down to Kingdom Advancement. If you choose the comfortable decision and ultimately that choice hurts the advancement of God’s Kingdom, the wrong decision was made. As a Christ-Follower, you are first and foremost a carrier of God’s message. Pretty much everything else is secondary. Your comfort included.
Jesus allowed his body to be broken even though He didn’t really want it to happen (Luke 22: 39-42) because advancing God’s Kingdom was much more important than Jesus’ comfort. Take a look at Paul. He wanted to go to Rome no matter the consequences. His entire journey revolves about going to the riskiest place on earth because that’s where he had to advance the Kingdom. He knew death was a very, very good possibility when he arrived in Rome but the risk was worth taking.
At this point in this thinking process I guess the question should turn from risk or reward to this – will what I’m about to do help advance the kingdom of God or not? Is this decision more self serving or “other” oriented?
posted by Stephen Hinkel at
12:14 PM
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