Comfort Must Fall

1 Samuel 17:37-40 David said, “The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!” So Saul clothed David with his armor, and he put a bronze helmet on his head; he also clothed him with a coat of mail. David fastened his sword to his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. And David said to Saul, “I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them.” So David took them off. Then he took his staff in his hand; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine.

Our Wednesday evening small group Bible Study group has been watching and discussing the Louie Giglio video series, titled “Goliath Must Fall” for the past several weeks, where five giant adversaries in our lives hold us captive, intimidate us with taunts, and steal our joy by gaining a foothold on our heart. In the classic Bible story of David verses Goliath, King Saul (a trained and equipped warrior) had everything to fight the giant, but didn’t, while young David had seemingly nothing to fight a giant, but did. For us today, we must find the possibility within us. We must not miss God’s purpose and plan in our life, and the payoff in eternity because the giant of “comfort” has a hold on our life and we settle for less than God’s best by choosing the “easy" route instead of the route of following Jesus in this world.

Luke 12:18-20 So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’

At the end of this journey, we are going to have to give an account of our life to God. Jesus came to fulfill a mission, and when He left, He gave us one; not living on “easy street”. Pastor Giglio explains that our faith thrives in times of discomfort. The Cross of Jesus Christ unpacks the power of the gospel and the glory of God. Who has an urgency to pursue a relationship with the Creator of heaven and earth? Pursue a prayer life? Pursue getting into God’s Word? Faith flourishes in hostile territory because faith, at its heart, is counter-culture. We  are counter-culture people in a broken world, headed to an eternal destination with a different view than just what we can get out of the here and now.

1 Chronicles 4:10 And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested.

Jesus is calling us tot that kind of mentality and lifestyle. We don’t normally choose discomfort and that is why God usually chooses it for us, because we need assistance in cutting the rope to drift far enough away from the dock to get into the steam’s current of what God wants to do in our life. We can sign up to be partners with God in this world and that is how we defeat  the giant of comfort. It’s by saying, “Jesus, I want to be where ever you are and do whatever you do. I want to be on mission with you wherever you go and are ministering.

Mark 8:34-35 When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.”

Sign up to join Christ in His work in the world. Then, we shall see the layers of adversary “comfort” fade away and the giant that Jesus has defeated will fall, as we say: “Thank God, I didn’t pick the easy way. Thank God, I picked the Jesus way.” All this results in a life of significance. This is what Jesus wants for us.

In Christ, Brian