Comfort vs. Meaning

Do I want a life striving for comfort, or do I want a life of meaning? This is the question I must settle once and for all. To choose comfort as my goal is to go with the flow in the western world. Most people in our country float along with that current. To choose real meaning is to literally swim upstream. It requires only a desire and a reach, but to choose meaning...to build with precious stones that will pass through fire...requires intention. To choose meaning requires I be captivated and fascinated by something other than entertainment and attainment of comfort. The whole world is trying to build some sort of nest egg and feel good doing it, while Jesus is trying to get me to stop "nesting" in this age. This is what the Bible defines fulfillment as:


Psalms 66:8-12 Oh, bless our God, you peoples! And make the voice of His praise to be heard, Who keeps our soul among the living, And does not allow our feet to be moved. For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us as silver is refined. You brought us into the net; You laid affliction on our backs. You have caused men to ride over our heads; We went through fire and through water; But You brought us out to rich fulfillment.


If I say "yes" to meaning, and "no" to going with the flow, there are a few things I should expect:


1. To feel more alive (soul in the land of the living). More connected to the Source of Life. A vibrant connection to God.


2. To feel stable (feet not moved) despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. This is to live by faith and not eye sight. As I learn to walk in vibrant connection with God, I should expect it to get a little crazy around me.


3. I should feel tested and be passing the tests incrementally. That doesn't necessarily mean instant overwhelming victory over temptation and circumstance, but a trajectory toward victory.


4. I should feel...know...a progressive experience of fulfillment, which produces a hunger for more of an experience of God (a vibrant spirit).


The most amazing quality about the relationship between me and God is that He created me for eternity. Whether you like it or not, once a human is created, their essence...their heart and spirit...will never die. An eternal heart has an eternal need to be satisfied...and infinite hunger for fulfillment. There is only one infinite source of fulfillment. God is the fullness of every good thing. He is the only source of fulfillment that is unending. My eternal heart will never be satisfied by anything less than an ever-increasing experience of God, yet most of the world wants to feed their heart on something less than God, because that is what everyone else is eating.


Many Christians pretend to themselves that when they die they will suddenly develop an appetite for God in full. The Bible assures us that it does not work this way. Those who have a little hunger for God and what He calls valuable now, will have little then, those who have much more now WILL have much more then!


Luke 19:26-27 ‘For I say to you, that to everyone who has will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. But bring here those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me.’ ”


To choose a life of comfort is to choose balance. Enough Jesus to feel holy and "saved" and enough of what everyone else is doing to feel normal and comfortable. A good measure of hot mixed with enough cold to keep it comfortable...lukewarm. If this is my philosophy of life, I am living in Laodicea:


Revelation 3:14-16 “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, ‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.


This is the lie in Laodicea: I lack nothing in the Spirit because everyone around me is just like me.


This is the truth in Laodicea: I am poor, blind (i can't even see I am poor), wretched, and naked (not dressed for the wedding I am supposed to be attending soon):


Revelation 3:17-20 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.


The great thing about Laodicea is that Jesus is passionate about the Laodicean Church! The hard thing about Laodicea is that to live in this state is to be "spiritually bored." Spiritual boredom is a compounding trap, because the one thing that could pull me out of the trouble (wholehearted, all-in, on fire desire for Jesus) seems boring! Church doesn't seem that exciting, the Bible doesn't seem that interesting, and the slow dull progression of life is not fulfilling. In fact, the unfulfillment that goes with spiritual boredom completely distracts people from God.


Sure, those in Laodicea get excited about enough fire to keep the water warm, but those living this lifestyle can't even see the attraction of giving all their time and savings to God...They should see that burning all the bridges, no plan B, 24/7 living in God's presence is what they were made for, but Laodiceans don't understand that going all in...seeking God first (all my time, all my money, all my emotion)... gets a person "everything". Seeking God first is a guarantee to getting a vibrant spirit and all the other stuff everyone else "floating downstream" is hoping to bump into.


Matthew 6:32-33 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.


Trading earthly strength for what Jesus says is valuable is what it means to "buy gold" from Jesus. This is storing up wealth in heaven. It is tempting to want to find Bible verses to explain why I don't need to give God everything, but I want to find verses that help me give Him more. This is the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5,6, and 7). The cure for "lukewarm " is living the Sermon on the Mount.


I sum up the Sermon on the Mount like this: 1. Take a personal inventory (I.e. do i actually hunger to read my Bible? No? Then I am spiritually poor in that area). 2. Cry out (mourn) for God to give me hunger for His words. 3. Realize that I can't change this lack on my own (meekness). 4. Keep reaching with my words to God until the hunger comes.


The rest of Matthew 5,6, and 7 are the things I can do to put myself closer to the fire...to agree with Jesus about living wholeheartedly: give my money away secretly, give my time away freely, fast secretly (live like I really care about being hungry for God), pray secretly (abide in God), blessing my enemies (not just forgiving them), and telling others about the vibrant joy in living this way. This is what Jesus said would store up treasure in eternity and would cloth us for the wedding:


Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.


Matthew 6:30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?


If I want to see how much I am agreeing with the Sermon on the Mount, all I have to do is consider how "alive" I feel, and then peek at my checkbook and my calendar. If I am wondering why I feel no vibrant connection to God, and I am not reaching for agreement with Him in my words, and backing that up with my choices in how I spend my time and money, it should be pretty plain to see where I am poor.


Jesus isn't grading me on a curve...in fact, He isn't grading me at all. He simply says that I get what I really desire. The reason He is so serious about my living all-in for Him is that He is all-in for me, He wants me to get everything He desires for me to have.


Trouble is coming to planet earth. Everything that can be shaken, money, jobs, entertainment, 401 k's...will be shaken. If God is the one doing the shaking, then there is only one place to stand that won't be shaken: where God stands. Now is the time to live all-in...fulfilled...vibrant...alive!

John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.