Sometimes life is so hard. And sometimes the hardness of life makes you want to throw up your hands and in exasperation just give it all up. There is a big part of us that thinks that life is supposed to be easy and we want it to be easy. I am not sure where the idea that life was easy ever came from, but I am very sure that wherever it came from, it was a big fat lie. Life is not easy, it’s rough, tough and hard. Sometimes life just gets to be more than we can handle. And when life gets this way it is important for us to get our thinking right!
We want life to be comfortable. Multiple millions of dollars are made each and every year by businesses that promise to make life easier and more comfortable. We will pay big bucks for comfort, but there is some comfort that no amount of money will ever be able to buy!
Our problem is not that life is sometimes uncomfortable, but that we have this wrong thought in the first place! We want life to be comfortable, we think life can and should be comfortable and we do everything we can in our power to make sure that life is comfortable, but still uncomfortable always seems to find where we are living and has no problem knocking on our door and inviting itself right on in.
I was reading through the Gospel of John and it was interesting to me that in three different places Jesus said: “I am going, so that I can send the comforter!” Here read it for yourself:
15If ye love me, keep my commandments. 16And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. -John 14:16-17
26But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: 27And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning. -John 15:26-27
7Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. 8And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9Of sin, because they believe not on me; 10Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; 11Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. -John 16:7-11
Now one simple question: Why would Jesus need to leave, so that He could send us a comforter? How about a simple answer: Because He knew that we were going to be uncomfortable and need help!
We expect comfort when Jesus plainly told us that we were going to be uncomfortable, but that He would send a comforter to help us. The Simple Bottom Line: Stop focusing on your uncomfortable situation and start focusing on your Comforter and you will be amazed at the difference it will make in your life!
Michael Joe Harvell 