I’m reading a great book right now by Mark Batterson. What I read today is all about how living as a radical Christ-follower is not just about doing crazy ministry. It’s a life of letting the Holy Spirit lead you into uncomfortable circumstances. I’m challenged once again to examine the comfort level of my life.
“Jesus called him (Holy Spirit) the Counselor. He comforts the afflicted. But like a good counselor, He also afflicts the comfortable.”
This amazing truth is going deep with me today. I live, work, and breathe an environment that many people look at and it causes them to become uncomfortable. Sell everything and travel the world living out of a backpack? Then sell everything again to move to Ireland? I can’t count the number of times that people have said something to the effect of “Wow… I could never do that.”
Not only do the circumstances of our life often amaze people… but the stories we get to tell about ministry are amazing as well. People are experiencing the Holy Spirit for the first time and are changing from timid church-pew-sitters into bold missionaries preaching the gospel. People are recognizing the voice and leading of God and obediently following Him in things that don’t make sense, only to see down the road that it was the perfect orchestration of a God-encounter. It’s a great life with great stories.
But the truth is, this lifestyle has become comfortable to me. My comfort zone IS the environment that makes people go, “wow.” But that doesn’t mean I have arrived and have it all together… I am now Radical. Check.
Actually, it means I’ve grown comfortable. So today, God is challenging me to move beyond my comfort zone. God is convicting me about simply living a complacent comfortable life without challenge because everyone else thinks it’s challenging. And the funny thing is, moving outside my comfort zone looks a lot like moving into an old comfort zone.
Right now, the challenge before us is to settle down. To sign a yearlong lease. To commit to a place, a people, and a ministry and not look to leave on the next great adventure that comes along. The challenge is to have furniture and kitchen appliances, but not become materialistic. The challenge is to save up for a second car, but be willing to give that savings away if God directs. The challenge is to wake up, Monday through Friday, have a cup of coffee and go to the office, and come home at five, cook dinner, sleep, rinse and repeat. But to do so radically.
But the good news is that the same Holy Spirit that leads us on the Great Adventures, is the Holy Spirit who leads us to make Normal Life the next Great Adventure. I might work every day in an office, but every day I have the chance to obediently follow the voice of God in things that may not make sense, only to see that it was the perfect orchestration of a God-encounter… right there with me in an office. We might live in a great apartment complex with nice neighbors, but every day I have the chance to enter into relationships where I’m challenged to remember that Jesus is needed around every corner… right here in normal life.
It’s not easy. I’m finding the demons of complacency and materialism around every corner. But I’m ready for the challenge… I’m ready to pursue the life of a radical Christ-follower right here, right now.
