All my life, I have been living in a world where the green foods of this world are completely off-limits. Nope, won’t eat them. You can't convince me. This battle started very early on in my life, as I sat at the dinner table hungry because I refused to eat what was on my plate. So much so that, at times, I sat there for several hours under the orders: “You are not allowed to get up from this table until you eat your vegetables.” I took this challenge and raised them—sitting there some nights until it was literally time to go to bed. I do not like vegetables.
However, this year I have embarked on an agonizing and excruciating journey to change that fact in my life. New year, new me—so I have set out to try twelve new vegetables in twelve months, with the goal of incorporating them into my regular diet. Let me just say: I am being VERY brave.
As a recovering picky eater, I know that the better things for me are not the king-sized KitKat bars and 44-ounce Dr. Peppers that I want to consume on an hourly basis. I know I need a well-balanced diet full of nutritious foods. I also know how much better my body will respond to those foods than to the highly processed junk I typically consume. But there is, at times, a mental block that keeps me from making the wiser decision because it may be “harder” in my brain. It is much easier for me to indulge in comfort foods that are safe than it is for me to get out of my comfort zone and truly do what is better for me.
This is where I Jesus juke you and acknowledge that while this has physical implications, far more importantly, this principle has significant spiritual implications as well.
I have grown increasingly aware—to the point of being burdened—by the state of the American church and how often we pursue comfort over the Kingdom. It’s almost as if we put our faith and trust in Jesus because we know it’s right, but we are also secretly hoping He will make our lives easier and that things will go better for us—using our own definitions of “good” and “better,” rather than trusting His definition of those things in our lives.
Personally, I am pained by the fact that, in much of my Christian life, I have repeatedly shied away from moments to share the Gospel with an unbeliever because I was worried about how awkward or uncomfortable I might become in the midst of that conversation. How unbelievably selfish of me to think that my comfort is more important than another person's eternity. I have prioritized comfort over the Kingdom.
God does not promise comfort—actually, He promises the opposite. Growth happens in the stretching of comfort zones and in the pains of rebuilding. Sanctification happens in the trials of life and the squeezing of our souls on either side as we pass through on the straight and narrow road.
Christ is calling us out of our comfort zones and into the spiritual battlefield every single day. Don’t get caught in the comfort zone. Be reminded today that we do not focus on the things that are seen, but on the things that are unseen:“...Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day.” — 2 Corinthians 4:16.
How are you pursuing discomfort for the sake of growth? Really, me eating my vegetables is a small battle in the grand scheme of things, but this physical discipline is helping build my spiritual disciplines.
Christ wants us to pursue growth. How are you growing?
2 Corinthians 4:16–18
16 Therefore, we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day.
17 For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.
18 So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Peace and blessings,
Bryant