Thought for Friday, January 25th

January 25, 2013

The Comfort Zone

How wealthy do you feel you are?

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

Matthew 19:23-24

“It is not scientific doubt, not atheism, not pantheism, not agnosticism, that in our day and in this land is likely to quench the light of the gospel.  It is a proud, sensuous, selfish, luxurious, church-going, hollow-hearted prosperity. ”

-       Frederic D. Huntington

The majority of us would not consider ourselves to be wealthy, especially not by the standards of the society in which we live.  But if you go beyond the confines of American culture and compare even some of the poorest, fiscally speaking, with the majority of the population in the world: we would be in their eyes, extremely wealthy.

Spiritually speaking, we know we are wealthy for our Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills: everything created is His: and He has given us the most valuable gift of all by giving us forgiveness and eternal life in Him through the blood of His son, Jesus.

But, whether we consider ourselves to be wealthy either physically or spiritually, that does not impact the fact that we have, by-in-large, found ourselves to be comfortable and thus contented, in that we, for the most part go lacking for nothing essential and in most cases have better than we often really need or could survive on.

It is this comfort and satisfaction that often leads us to lethargy and complacency in our efforts at living by faith.

Sometimes I think we are so overly blessed by God that we often take Him for granted and then it takes something almost catastrophic to really jolt us out of our comfort zone into a place of activating our faith and truly getting in touch with God.

The Word tells us that He rewards those who diligently seek Him: so I can’t help but wonder if we were more diligent, how much more blessed would we be than we currently perceive that we are?

This notion is enough to nudge me out of my comfort zone: how about you?

Today’s Prayer

Father, as blessed as I am, may I never take it as common place or a sense of entitlement just because I am your child: but may I desire more, not for the sake of value, but rather for the sake of a deeper and more meaningful relationship with you and a greater ability to be more effective in service for your Kingdom.