Comfort in a Casket

Comfort is the enemy of sacrifice. Anyone who has tried getting out of bed after sleeping in can attest this is true. Men have least desire for war when tranquilized by the luxuries that pamper them. It is men deprived of comforts, whether willingly or unwillingly, that have the greatest hunger for a fight.

It's because of this that we have been like sedated sheep strolling to the slaughterhouse. We have no desire to fight for Truth when we're lounging in a townhome at a perfect 72°F watching Netflix. Your truth, my truth? Sure. Spin a wheel, pick your gender? Sure. Turn my kid into a Marxist at a government school? Sure. We're too busy living the American dream to care. All our lives we've been trying to amass comforts, why give any of them up for war?

Arthur Guiterman wrote,

"First dentistry was painless. Then bicycles were chainless, Carriages were horseless, And many laws enforceless. Next cookery was fireless, Telegraphy was wireless, Cigars were nicotineless, And coffee caffeineless. Soon oranges were seedless, The putting green was weedless, The college boy was hatless, The proper diet fatless. New motor roads are dustless, The latest steel is rustless, Our tennis courts are sodless, Our new religion--godless."

We have been trying to drive out discomfort and inconvenience out of every part of our lives. Unfortunately, religion included. The issue is that a comfortable religion is no religion at all. Christianity without suffering is not Christianity at all. The very focal point of Christianity is a Suffering Savior. A God who gave up comfort--who suffered--in order to save.

If our model is Jesus, we should be willing suffer in order to save. We should be willing to war to win. It's Jesus who says,

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

Self-denial is a prerequisite to following Jesus and it is those who deny the self that find the salvation yearn for. Following Jesus brings more conflict not less. Anyone looking for the easy life shouldn't be following Jesus. Jesus puts into conflict with our flesh, the powers and principalities of this world. Listen to Jesus' words in Matthew 10:34-39:

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

Following Jesus costs us. It may cost us relationships. It may cost us the applause of the world. It may cost us jobs. It may cost us time. It may cost us money. It may cost us sleep. It will definitely cost us comfort and it will certainly cost us our life, which Jesus tells us is the only way to find our life.

What is comfort holding you back from? Having another child? Staying home with your child to make sure they get a proper Christian education? Speaking the truth in love to your coworker? Killing sin?

Speak up and you may have something to lose. Don't speak up and you'll have even more to lose. A casket is comfortable but it's also.. a casket. You can choose to die comfortably in a cushion-padded casket or you can rest your comfort in a casket. And it's when we rest our comfort in a casket that we find true Comfort in Christ.

^"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too."