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Growing up, I always heard that success is found outside of your comfort zone. As I got older, I realized it was true. If I wanted to achieve success, I couldn't be afraid to do the things that made me uncomfortable - whether that was changing my group of friends, changing my hobbies, or isolating myself from society.
The cool thing about life is that every human being has a chance to be successful. However, in order to achieve success, they must leave their comfort zone. Unfortunately, most people never even leave their hometown, and this alone could be a detriment to anyone’s success. I learned that in order to achieve success and expand my mind, I had to venture into the unknown, whether that was in regard to places, people, or my own mental capacity.
I don’t think any successful person would disagree with anything that I have said. However, a majority of people would disagree with me if I said that the Kingdom of Heaven works the same way. Many Christians don't seem to believe that success in the Kingdom requires leaving their comfort zone. If that were true, then what does it mean to be baptized in the “same baptism” as Jesus Christ?
If we look in the scriptures and study the life that Jesus lived, seeing how often He was persecuted, why do we assume that the Christian life should be easy? Imagine if I climbed Mount Everest and suffered a broken leg, a broken arm, fractured ribs, dislocated my fingers, and then came back and told you, “Be prepared to take the same route that I took.” What would you expect?
This is why Jesus tells us to “count the cost” - because if you enjoy comfort more than you enjoy Christ, you will never be able to follow Him.
“When you follow me as my disciple, you must put aside your father, your mother, your wife, your sisters, your brothers; it will even seem as though you hate your own life. This is the price you’ll pay to be considered one of my followers. Anyone who comes to me must be willing to share my cross and experience it as his own, or he cannot be considered to be my disciple. So don’t follow me without considering what it will cost you. For who would construct a house before first sitting down to estimate the cost to complete it? Otherwise he may lay the foundation and not be able to finish. The neighbors will ridicule him, saying, ‘Look at him! He started to build but couldn’t complete it!’' - Luke 14:26-30 TPT
Isn’t it interesting that we have millions of Christians that have never experienced discomfort? Is it possible to detach pain and discomfort from the cross of Jesus Christ? Or do they go hand in hand?
The truth is, if you are claiming to follow God, but aren’t constantly led to do things that make you uncomfortable, it is because you are not actually following Him. The sad reality is that Jesus only exposes the narrow road to heaven to people who are truly looking for it.
Question of the day: If you don’t want to follow Christ because it’s uncomfortable, how do you think burning in hell forever will feel?