Are We There Yet? Devotional by Unitedنموونە

TITLE: Deeper Waters

LYRIC: “Lead my heart into deeper waters, lead my faith beyond the shallows of my creature comfort, dare my trust into all Your greatness, someplace wilder than the safety of these old familiar shores.” - Deeper Waters

SCRIPTURES:

• Luke 9:23-24 NIV
• Jeremiah 17:7-8
• 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 NIV

DEVOTIONAL:

When we think about the things that challenge our faith and trust in God, maybe we think of difficult circumstances, sin, the Devil, or maybe even the ways of the world that are opposed to God. We find ourselves wrestling with many different enemies to our faith, so to speak. But maybe one of the lesser confronted wrestles of our faith is simply comfort. Not the comfort of God—the kind the Holy Spirit gives us, or the comfort of God’s peace—but the comfort (or the comforts) of this life. If we are honest with ourselves, sometimes we can easily be swayed by the desire or promise of comfort. The desire for comfort can cause us to avoid sharing the gospel or helping a person in need. Looking for comfort can lead us to make decisions based solely on our own wants, instead of being led by the Holy Spirit. We can be driven to make poor decisions for the sake and pursuit of earthly comforts. Yet, Christ never promised following Him would be comfortable. This is why it is bold, yet important, to pray or sing words like, “Lead my heart into deeper waters, lead my faith beyond the shallows of my creature comfort, dare my trust into all Your greatness, someplace wilder than the safety of these old familiar shores.”

Being a Christian does not mean we will never get to experience certain comforts in this life. In fact, we are often unaware of how often God gives them. But, being a Christian means we do not live for these things. Our life’s pursuit is in a different direction—toward a different end. Our will, our desires, our “creature comfort” has been surrendered and put in submission to Christ.

The comforts of this life may come and go, but our faith and trust in God, our pursuit of Him and His purposes must remain, regardless of these ebbs and flows. Beyond this, in many ways, Christ calls us to un-comfortability. In Luke 9:23 (NIV) Jesus says, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Even though this is a serious challenge, Christ’s call to deny oneself shouldn’t discourage us. In the very next verse, Jesus says, “whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.” (Luke 9:24 NIV) The comforts of this life are no comparison to the life we have in Christ. This is the great exchange of our faith: to lose our lives but to gain Him and His life. Yet, while we may be called to lay down earthly comforts here or there, God gives us a heavenly and holy comfort in all the circumstances we find ourselves in: “For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.” -1 Corinthians 1:3-5 NIV