Committed, Not Comfortable

Sometimes we can get in the bad habit of viewing the church as something that is for us, instead of viewing it as something that we are for. We live as if the church exists to meet our needs instead of us being the church to meet the needs of others. 

We can hop from church to church to decide what style of preaching feeds us without ever investing our lives in the mission of the church. We identify with denominations, different theology, political ideologies, and well-known Christians more than we do with Christ himself. Our churches are filled with consumers who are sitting comfortably in their chairs, viewing the church as an “a la carte” menu where we can pick and choose what serves us, without investing our lives in the Body of Christ.

This is not how God calls us to live. Jesus wasn’t crucified so that we could dress up on Sunday, sit in our comfortable seats, judge the sermon, and then go out to brunch. He didn’t raise to life so that we would live a comfortable and convenient life. Jesus died and broke the grave so that we would come together as the church, passionate about and committed to the mission of growing the Kingdom of God. 

God gave us each a specific role in the Body of Christ to accomplish his mission of advancing his Kingdom. If we forsake our role in the mission for the sake of comfort, the entire Body of Christ suffers. No one else was made to do your role in the Body of Christ, so your work will be left undone. But when we commit to be the church and join Jesus in his mission of making disciples of all nations, we will find that a committed life is exactly the adventure we were made for.

Reflection/Discussion Question: In what ways do you find yourself choosing comfort over commitment as you follow Christ?