The old-fashioned, stereotypical American dream went out of style but not before a new, more discrete dream took its place. Comfort.
Sure, the old dream is still alive and thriving for some, wanting fancier cars than the 2010 BMW they already have in 5 colors, but people get bored. After all, we like to be different and individualistic in an already fairly diverse society. The old dream will never truly die and likely will continue to exist, to an extent, in each of our hearts. Nonetheless, its replacement is much more dangerous, one the God Himself proclaims to detest. Comfort. Revelation 3:16
Get cozy and think about this plague for a minute. Or better yet, don't. Still think about it though. When did it first occur to us to ignore problems? When your brother bothered you and your mom told you to. So why did you carry that philosophy into adulthood? Same as me, it's easier to deal with, more comfortable.
When we're confronted with even a mere glimpse of pain in the world, aka the news, we complain. We complain that there should be less depressing news...but it is depressing. It's facts being given to us that we're only angry about because they bothered us. We don't like being bothered. Hmm, sure that's terrible that 500 people just got tortured and murdered in the Middle East, just don't bother me with that terrible information.
Comfort is the ultimate death. Possibly worse than cancer and definitely much slower in the consumption of its victim. We don't like boo boos, stench, hard math classes, less than cordial cherries for co-workers. What we do want to talk about is the beautiful weather, new clothes, favorite TV shows, and some "wonderful insight"...or of course complain about the terrible things that happen to us in life--you know, like the atrocity of paying 5 cents more at the pump than what the station down the road is charging. Meanwhile, our breath is wasted just as fast as the starving child in Haiti. Oops. Uncomfortable statement?
Am I condemning humanity? Of course not, not even Americans--and that's hard not to do. No, that wouldn't be fair since I'm just the same, of course, but more so because it is the way we were designed. God created us good and in His image to be relational and to love and be loved. We find peace and comfort in His arms, after all. It's warm there. Soft. Safe. Just like in our suburban home.
Hmm, but God tells us to fly out of comfort and safety in order to fulfill the destiny he set ahead. Deuteronomy 32: 11. Of course what goes on in this world is atrocious and we don't want to fill our minds with "negativity," we were never supposed to. We hate it. We weren't made for it. We oppose it. We're...offended. Now we're talking.
The only cure to comfort is the exact opposite, running into the pain. Pouring an entire bottle of alcohol onto that boo boo--not comfy but definitely healing. I've grown numb to the offense of those images, those stories, those "issues," those people--God's people. It's natural, it's a defense mechanism we've developed and originally had to shield us from the pain. I pray to God I let it die with that victimized woman who died of thirst. May I never resurrect it but replace it with the courage to fight. The courage to reverse my defense mechanism from comfort to courage. Courage isn't the absence of fear--it's the opposite. Courage is fear. Fear of being comfortable. Fear of oneself becoming too powerful. Fear of letting another image of God fall victim. "For God does not give us a spirit of timidity but of power, of love, and of self-discipline." 2 Timothy 1:7
Now there's some comfort in courage--God won't spit me out!
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