the simple mind of andy turner

I hate being uncomfortable. I hate being in crowds that are too big, I hate long trips in annoying pants, I even get annoyed after a few days growth with the feeling of my measly beard. I hate speaking to a group of people and losing my train of thought right in the middle of the message. I hate seeing people when I know that in some way I’ve wronged them.
However for a long time I’ve known when it comes to our relationship with Jesus there are seasons that we are going to be uncomfortable. We all want to think that God is just calling us to do what we can do, and leave the rest for someone else. It’s like we think He wants us to be a part of some new sect of LazyBoy Christianity. As long as I can do it from where I am without exerting too much effort, I’m all in.
The main problem with this is as long as we are just focusing on what WE CAN DO, we’ll never know what HE CAN DO! In fact, I honestly can’t think of a single time in scripture to where followers of Jesus were called to be comfortable. Instead, Jesus told His disciples to Go (Mt. 28:18-20)! And once they went, with the exception of John, they all died a martyrs death. I think of Paul, a man who has possibly brought more people to Jesus than anyone else in history. He was ship-wrecked, beaten, left for dead, thrown out of cities, imprisoned time and time again (2 Cor. 11:23-28). But these guys understood something that I know from time to time I miss. They knew that the message they were giving was so important that it didn’t matter how uncomfortable they were, they knew it had to be done. They lived with a sense of urgency. They knew the consequences that NOT sharing this message would have.

I believe that it’s time for the Church to start being uncomfortable in several ways. But at the top of the list I hope we are uncomfortable with the fact that people are dying and heading to a Christ-less eternity. I pray that we become so uncomfortable with this fact that it causes us to lose sleep. It causes us to GO. To have the hard conversation. To love the one who frankly “doesn’t deserve” our love. To serve recklessly. To  never give up on people. To do things that make us uncomfortable (in relation to our identity in Jesus) for the simple reason that Loving God. Loving People. and Serving The World is not a comfortable thing to do. But it’s definitely worth it.