Every once in a while I rather randomly click through to the smattering of writing I did years ago on the topic of a plain vanilla testimony; I've posted bits and pieces of it here from time to time.
Tonight was one of those nights; I stumbled across a passage that once more addressed an issue that I've been mulling over for a while...the necessity to get over 'comfortable':
...we tend to grow comfortable in whatever state we are in. Not ‘content’, as Paul says in Philippians 4:11, ‘comfortable’. Happy with the Way Things Are and unwilling to do anything that might upset the status quo. We become afraid of doing anything unusual or unfamiliar. In short, we fear to undergo a risk for the kingdom. Now, risk is a somewhat subjective thing; one person would not hesitate to give extra for a particular need, another might quail at extra giving for fear an unforeseen expense could put him in financial difficulties. One person can stand and speak freely in front of a crowd; another might nearly hyperventilate at the thought of reading a verse aloud in a small group study. Fear of rejection might keep an individual from speaking his/her convictions in the lunchroom at work; fear of looking foolish might keep someone else from donning goofy clothes to work in children’s church. There are many things humans fear, but we cannot allow ourselves to give in to fear and believe that a Plain Vanilla Testimony means that we never will have to face a fear and take a risk to follow what God has clearly put in our hearts to do. Spiritual contentment is a good thing; spiritual comfort is too much of a good thing gone stale and stagnant. Don’t confuse the two.
No comments:
Post a Comment