God Can’t Help You (If You Won’t Let Him): The Seductive Lie and Side Effects Of Comfort

Insight 69 | Imagine you're walking along a road one day, going over to a cafe for an afternoon chat, when a fellow comes along and offers you a bottle of magic pills. He promises they’ll bring bliss and make life easier.

Of course, he assures you they are safe, sharing multiple testimonials from the enjoyable lives many of his former clients have led as a result. Some of the other cafe attendees nod their heads in approval; they have done business with this man before. 

Knowing he has caught your attention, he continues praising its effects and even offers you a special price. All you have to do to obtain this splendid substance is simple: care a little less than you do now about the things that really matter, pay slightly less attention to your life's calling, and scroll a hair longer each day. Of course, he also promises that when this batch runs out, you can call him up and he will gladly deliver a new prescription, adjusting the formulation as necessary.

With all this promise of good, you turn the offer over in your mind. It sounds too good to be true, but then again, the others around you have worked with him before, and they seem just fine. It’s at this moment that you remember how you have been feeling a bit down at work recently and that last argument with your family comes to mind too… after a few moments, you realize how tempting this opportunity is.

Blinded by the moment's ecstasy, you shake the man's hand, grab a bottle, and go on your merry way. It isn't till months later, after nearing the end of your provision, that you come to realize you never bothered to ask what the name of what you were taking was, or even to check its side effects. Suddenly, you remember that those at the cafe had deep and dark circles under their eyes; they seemed pretty calm, but almost too relaxed. They were quiet and only nodded when the man spoke. Looking back, this now strikes you as odd, and you decided to check the bottle's label.

Prescription Drug Name: Comfort

Side Effects Include: Nausea, drowsiness, numbness, numerous regrets, broken relationships, missed opportunities, increased likelihood for poor decision making, high chances of missing life's purpose, and death (legally required to state).

You read that last one? Yeah … Comfort really can kill. The only way to prevent these effects? 

Simple, accept God's outstretched hand and watch as he pulls you out of your comfort zone and into the courage one, and you begin to live a life fueled with purpose and intention.

Just like that, you realize: the most dangerous addictions are the ones society applauds. While this scenario might sound silly, it's exactly how we fall into the trap that is mediocrity. 

One day, in our daily bustle, we buy into the lies of the easy road, allured by the promise of a less stressful, simpler, or better life. Obviously, if asked, “What's more important to you? Being healed and becoming better or being comfortable?”  Most of us would say the former, but the evidence of our lives shows otherwise. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, it's time for a reality check. If we don’t do our parts, how can we ever expect life, and for that matter God, to do his? See, God CANNOT help you… (pause for dramatic effect)… If you won’t ALLOW him to. God’s a gentleman after all.

It's never been his responsibility to fix your life; that's a prideful way of thinking. And while most of us can agree this sounds correct, we procrastinate on our callings, we make excuses for our mission, and we sit on the fence post between heavenly things and the pulls of this world.

It seems so much easier to decorate our jail cells than to grab the keys and climb toward the lives we’re meant for. We would rather be comfortable and wrong than challenged and on our way to fulfilling the Lord's purpose for our lives.

We see this firsthand in many of Jesus’s interactions with the Pharisees of his day. Often, it was the ultra-religious men, the ones with the extra knowledge and insight, who would push back or entirely reject the salvation message of the kingdom the Messiah was heralding. 

Imagine that! A scholarly class of individuals who have dedicated their entire lives to learning, studying, and piecing together the prophecies of a savior, only to be face-to-face with the man himself and brush him off. The Pharisees thought they were ok, but they were the sickest of them all. It was their comfort that led to their death; they were a bit too comfortable being wrong.

This, of course, pains Jesus as he has come to share his good news with all, and yet, in his divine wisdom, he understands not everyone who hears his message will be willing to accept it.  He himself admits that he has come for those who know they are sick, not for those who believe they are well. While he invites all, he realizes he can only work alongside those who choose to accept. And that leads us to today's first point: You must first admit you have a problem, and then accept the invitation to be healed, before you can ever honestly deal with it.

I don’t think we realize this, but we are constantly on the receiving end of invites to try something new, step out of our comfort zone, and climb up the hill to see a better view; they pile up at our door, waiting to be opened… but guess what? No matter how many invites we get, we won’t know what any of them say unless we choose to pick them up, open their seals, and seek out their contents. 

This is where many of us find ourselves today, stuck on a metaphorical couch as we watch different opportunities land on our doorstep. Some become buried beneath the pile, never to be seen again; others get blown off by the wind to the homes of people who will read them, and those last few get grabbed by the other, more intentional, folks walking by.  This leads us to live our lives waiting to be chosen, waiting for someone to physically put those invites into our hands. We sit, hoping someone will pick us out from the crowd and join their team. We so often hope someone to create the space we want to speak, to work, to excel. But again, that's not how life operates, and it is a problem that begins with our expectations. We want everything fast, pre-cooked, and disposable; we like things we can consume and forget. My mother once pointed this out to me. I’ve come to call it the Microwave Complex: the wrong belief that anything worthwhile can be done quickly and for us.

ANOTHER REALITY CHECK! We can’t microwave our lives into becoming a perfectly cooked risotto. This leads us to our second point for today: We wait and hope that someone will notice our brilliance or do the work for us without realizing that it's our job to do that first!

This is liberating; it means that even when it feels like no one is in your corner, you can still root for yourself. Whatever we want in this life, we should never forget that it's our responsibility to go get it. God would love to help us along the way, but if we don't take his hand, then go ahead and take the first few steps; it doesn't matter that He's ready to go when you are. This concept has really had me thinking this week, and it was this quote that brought it all together for me: 

“Procrastination is the arrogant assumption that God owes you another opportunity to do what he already gave you time to do.” - Bishop Rosei O’neal

See, the longer that you entertain what is not for you, the longer you delay what is for you. Some of us do that indefinitely. We think that just because we don’t “have” to decide to read any of these letters right now, we can keep putting it off till later. But folks, waiting to act on what we know we should do is still a decision!!!

This calls to mind the words of James when he writes, “To him that knows what to do but chooses not to do it, to him, it is sin.” 

And that is today's third bullet: Don’t delay, do it today.

Before we end, I'd like to acknowledge a common fear that arises when we choose to step outside our comfort zones. What if challenging my comfort means losing all the things I love and hold dear? That's a great question, and the truth is it does mean that. The higher that you go, the thinner the air gets, the more you have to trust God, but you have to take that first step to start getting there.

See, God will never let what you lost be the best thing you ever had. While in the midst of it, it never feels like that, but if we could have a glimpse into heaven, they'd all be laughing and saying, “relax.” Sure, we have all lost things that have hurt. But God has never left, and looking back, I bet you can admit much more makes sense now than it ever did in the moment. I like to remind myself that God has better taste than we do. 

—

If that man ever comes back along and tries to sell you some comfort, respectfully tell him “no”. 

Catch him up on how you’ve decided to conquer your fears, follow God's will, and be the one to take the first step because you realized there's no knight in shining armour coming to save you. Share that news with others.

When he asks how’d you do it, tell him:

1. You must first admit you have a problem, and then accept the invitation to be healed, before you can ever honestly deal with it.

2. We wait and hope that someone will notice our brilliance or do the work for us without realizing that it's our job to do that first!

3. Don’t delay, do it today.

It's easy to get caught up in distraction when the world is in continuous distraction. But remember, none of us is promised tomorrow! If we are in Christ, our eternity will be a time of comfort and rest. Till then, live in your courage zone, not your comfort one.

Which zone are you living in today?

- Making The Most Of Being Curious

Daniel J. Cuesta

P.S.: If you are wondering whether you’ve gotten too comfortable, ask yourself these questions. If you don't have an answer or cannot clearly articulate one, then perhaps it's time to reassess.

• What do I know I should be doing?  Am I putting it off?

• What am I fighting for?

• If the world ended tonight, would I know I gave this life the best I had?

Sources:

Admit Your Sickness In Order To Be Healed: And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners? And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mark 2:16-17

You Must Take The First Step: So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. - James 2:17

Don’t Delay, Do It Today: So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. - James 4:17

A Relationship With The Lord Is A Two-Way Street: If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. - 2 Chronicles 7:14 

P.P.S.: I believe it is important to clarify one thing: God's love is indeed unconditional. That should never be confused. God demonstrates this to us with his actions. Sending his Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us while we were still sinners, not when we were already saved (Romans 5:8), demonstrates that his love and its effects have always been intended for everyone. 

Now, while his love is unconditional, its effects are not. In other words, while God does love the entire world, it only applies, comforts, and benefits those who have accepted His invitation. We also know this to be true from scripture, as the great I Am (God) often makes his promises and expects the receiver to uphold their end. A great example of this is found in 2 Chronicles 7:14, which says:

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

See, the underlined “then”, that is the signal that a relationship with God is a two-way street. THIS is a principle that applies to absolutely everyone, no matter your stage of life or beliefs. 

Comfort is what prevents you from engaging with it.