May 13, 2015
Afflictions
I heard from a fellow
writer/journalist who said, “We comfort the afflicted and afflict the
comfortable, which is what we are supposed to be doing!” Such a job description
is not only reminiscent of Jesus, but applicable to all believers as well. People
of faith do very well at comforting the afflicted, but when it comes to afflicting
the comfortable with truth we turn the responsibility over to the preacher, the
elders, or the Bible. “Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak
truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body” (Eph 4:5 NIV).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Gail;
-----I must beg to differ with your fellow writer/journalist. I have a friend who is such an atheist he loathes the mention of God or Christ because of such turmoil he’s personally faced by “crusading Christians”. As you pointed out, speaking truthfully is broadly expected of those who follow Christ. But somehow, we’ve replaced it with this mentality that we must go conquer everything not right around us. So we pick up our swords and spears and ride into battle to defeat the horrors of comfort. Now, I hope we’re not doing that after comforting the afflicted, for the formerly afflicted, once comforted, would again need to be afflicted.
-----I understand what your fellow writer/journalist means. I just don’t think he’s hit his nail quite on the head. My atheist friend is physically comfortable with his good fortune. He achieves some amount of mental and emotional comfort from avoiding concepts about eternal destiny he can not confute. And comfort in these things does him more harm than good. Without them he might search. So also it is with the complacent brother in the Lord. Yet I find no command in scripture to go assault other people’s comfort. Or assault them for being comfortable. Their comfort belongs to them whether it helps or hinders, and the Bible does not tell us to go around destroying other people’s property, whether it be tangible or intangible.
-----In fact, most everywhere the Bible mentions “comfort” in a positive light rather than a negative one. Your fellow writer/journalist thinks comfort ruins effort and accomplishment in living for the Lord? No quarterback can achieve greatness without being comfortable in the pocket. Before a batter can slam that home run he must get comfortable at the plate. I must get comfortable with my client’s information before I can prepare a good tax return. Nobody would fly with a pilot who’s neither comfortable at the controls nor with being twenty-thousand feet off the ground. Every Christian who is truly an impressively good person is comfortable in the Lord. And I don’t think your fellow writer/journalist doesn’t know this.
-----He’s just bitten into another idiotic, crusading-Christian cliché without thinking it through. Comfort is an alignment within a situation - a necessity. You’ll align your body on a couch one way to eat off a plate in your lap, and in a different way to watch a really good movie. This is why scripture so often speaks about God comforting His children. He does it right for what they need to be. They do better work, give better witness, be brighter light, and psaltier salt when they are comfortable living their new life in the Lord, just like the quarterback will throw a better long ball, the batter will hit more runs, the accountant will prepare better tax returns, and the pilot will fly into fewer hillsides if they are all properly comfortable in their situations. Comfort is not the enemy.
-----Deceit is the enemy. Tim Tebow needed to humble himself because his comfort was in running rather than in the pocket. He didn’t need his comfort afflicted; he needed training. Mighty Casey didn’t need his comfort in his record afflicted; he needed that left in the record hall so he could get comfortable with the pitch coming at him next. The enemy is the deceit upon which comfort is misplaced; comfort is crucial. Unfortunately, those who are not real comfortable with thinking are being misled by all these crusading-Christian clichés against comfort. Our fellow writer/journalist crusaders need to afflict deceit, not comfort.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
Post a Comment