In all the human needs we have examined in the past weeks, realize that you can reach a point in life when each one is fulfilled and you feel comfortable. I am personally contented in these needs from physical, safety, love, esteem, and personal fulfillment. I am not worried about what I will eat tonight. In fact, as I write this, my wife and I have been deciding what to cook for supper from the variety of food in our freezer. I live in a nice home, which shelters me from the heat, cold, and rain. I own more than enough clothes to protect me from the elements. I have my family to love me, and have reached a point of satisfaction with my esteem. My ministry and my hobbies keep me personally fulfilled. Yet, there is one need in which we must never get comfortable—our spiritual need.
During the 90’s, after completing my education, we bought a house, and I was a fulltime teacher at a large church; I was comfortable but at the same time miserable. I was faithfully working at my ministry, I knew the Bible, I worshipped God daily, etc. I was doing all the normal expected Christian activities. So, I began asking the LORD what was wrong. His answer was simple—you have become spiritually comfortable and stopped growing. I saw myself as a mature believer, but I was basing that assumption on comparing myself to the two most spiritual people I knew—my home pastor and my mentor, a professor—but men are not the benchmark of maturity. Jesus is the standard for which we must strive. During that time, I remember my youngest son walking up beside me saying, “Look Dad, I am almost as tall as you,” although his head was still below my waist. An image raced through my mind of me walking up to Jesus and seeing how I compared to Him. I thought I was almost to the level of my pastor and my mentor, but being like Jesus was the goal. I probably did not come up to the level of His heel. I got the point and began endeavoring to grow again in my spiritual journey. Every day as I looked at Jesus in Scripture and then looked at myself, I felt like Isaiah, Woe is me (Isaiah 6:5).
Through the years, I have observed several Christians who failed in their spiritual walk during the latter years of their life. Much, if not all of their failures, revolved around pride. One of them would say, “You can’t tell me what to do; I’ve been a Christian for 70 years.” That screams an attitude, “I have arrived.”
Our spiritual journey through this life is like riding a bicycle up a gentle slope. You cannot stop peddling until you get to the top. Yet, Christians can reach a certain level, get comfortable, and feel like they can coast the rest of the way. Paul said, Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, v14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:13-14). Paul knew, even with all of his accomplishment for the Kingdom of God, he could not coast to the end.
Launching out from any comfort zone is challenging—a new career, relocating, changing ministry, going into the unknown, furthering your education, going on a diet, changing the way that we have always done something, or any other area where we are comfortable. The Bible is filled with examples: Peter got out of the safety of the boat to walk on water; Abraham relocated to an unknown land that God promised; Ananias went and prayed for Saul who had been persecuting the church; and the ultimate example is Jesus leaving the comforts of heaven and living as a man on the earth; then dying a painful death on the cross.
Settling into a spiritual comfort zone may feel good for a time. However, it will eventually leave you, as l was, miserable. Growing spiritually has nothing to do with gaining or keeping our salvation. Spiritual growth is becoming more like Jesus. So, how do we growth spiritually? It may entail beginning a new ministry where we will need greater dependence on Him. It may be allowing the Holy Spirit to cleanse us of hidden sin. It may be spending more time studying the Bible and praying. There is no set answer. It is according to God’s purpose for your life.
Complete spiritual fulfillment will come only when we are like Jesus. That does not happen in this life. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is (1 John 3:2).
In Paul’s last letter, only days or possibly hours before he was beheaded, he tells Timothy, When you come bring the cloak . . . and the books, especially the parchments (2Tim. 4:13). In other words, it probably means bring my Old Testament scrolls and my study notes. He still was not coasting on what he knew or what he had accomplished.
Sustaining Word for the Week:
Are you comfortable, but still miserable? Maybe, it is time to stand next to Jesus and see just how tall or better yet, how short you are compared to Him. Ask the Holy Spirit to lead you in new spiritual growth.