The Beatitudes (for comfortable people)

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1. Comfortable are those who only engage with their immediate circle of friends, for getting to know new people can be awkward.
2. Comfortable are those who don’t invest in the discipleship of others, for they lack the time and patience.
3. Comfortable are those who don’t interact with others while waiting in line, for they can’t be bothered.
4. Comfortable are those who don’t invite others to church to hear the good news of Christ, for they know everyone is doing just fine like them.
5. Comfortable are those who don’t tithe what the Lord asks, for they would have to sacrifice that which is precious to them.
6. Comfortable are those who engage in surface-level conversations with others, for anything deeper could get pretty messy.
7. Comfortable are those who spend little time with covenant children and youth, for they’ve “been there/done that.”
8. Comfortable are those who seldom welcome others into their home, for they have made that domain sacred.
9. Comfortable are those who gossip and are overly critical, for it gives them a sense of power.
10. Comfortable are those who don’t know what’s going on in the lives of their neighbors, for that requires intentionality.

When I read these, the first thought that came to my mind is “Oomph!”—a punch in the gut as it were—because I know many of these can be said about me at times. It is hard to pry us away from what makes us comfortable, isn’t it? But it is precisely the Lord’s calling on our lives to live out the gospel, to bless and be a blessing, that drives us outside of ourselves and towards the people and Kingdom endeavors to which the Lord has called us. In order to fight against the inherent tendencies such a list illustrates, we must put Christ at the center of every sphere of our lives—and we need to encourage one another towards this end! Christ must increase, and we must decrease.

1 Comment

Thanks for making me uncomfortable. Very convicting.

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