Getting Uncomfortable
If you really want to grow this year, you’ve got to be willing to get a little uncomfortable.
The Comfort Trap
The world today is generally a comfortable place. There are aircons everywhere - if it gets too warm, make it more comfortable. Heaters everywhere - if it gets too cold, make it more comfortable. We went to the Voortrekker monument in Pretoria a little while back, and on display there is an old ox-wagon that the Voortrekkers obviously travelled in across our country. I looked into this rickety structure, with two benches along the side so narrow you would probably fall off if you breathed too hard, and I thought wow. That must've been uncomfortable!
How comfortable we are – our cars and homes and offices are cushy and nice, the type of comfort that only royalty would have been able to enjoy in previous generations. And that's ok, it shows how far we've come as a society in recent years. But here's a question: when last did you purposely get uncomfortable in order to grow?
Embracing Discomfort for Growth
You know what's the worst thing you can hear as a family with somebody who's sick? It's when the doctor says "we're going to make him comfortable." Because that means he doesn't have much longer, so let's eliminate any discomfort, while he is still alive. I don't want to wake up in the morning and say "I'm going to make myself comfortable today”, unless I am very close to death because I am sick or old. Instead I want to say: "Lord, grow me, even if it makes me uncomfortable."
Learning from Life's Lessons
Have you been prioritising your comfort so much that you have stopped growing? Maybe it's time to do something that makes you uncomfortable. Maybe that alone time with God is weird and uncomfortable for you, but you do it anyway because growing in your faith is that important. Maybe joining a church or a small group is uncomfortable because you're shy, but you get uncomfortable and do it anyway because you want to grow this year. Maybe starting to exercise, or eating healthy, is hard for you, but you do it anyway because it’s time to make a change for God’s glory.
In the end the discomfort of doing what’s right is more important that the comfort of doing what you normally do.
Richard S. Taylor, one of the great Nazarene ministers and writers, has a terrific book called Discipline. And it he states that our world is on a bad path because we’ve been taught to always take the path of least resistance in our lives, instead of the more difficult but God-glorifying paths.
Let’s not be ‘path of least resistance’ people. Let’s be growth people.
Let’s pursue more and more growth this year, by pushing ourselves to do what God calls us to do – even if it means getting uncomfortable.
