Yesterday I shared that we should be comforted knowing that Jesus is our Savior, has paid for our sins, and calls us to a new life with Him. But does that mean we should be comfortable?

To what has Jesus called you? Did he call you to live a new life and make disciples, or did He call you to be comfortable and expect other people to serve you?

If you ask Jesus to use you, you need to be ready to be stretched, to take risks, to be made uncomfortable. Your life as a redeemed child of God is not about being comfortable. It is about loving God, loving others and spreading God’s Word.

Jesus didn’t call anyone to be His disciple so that he or she could go sit in a church pew  once a week and think they had somehow done their part. He said to get out there. Love others. Not just in your head, but with your hands and your feet and your actions.

A Christian singer named Scott Wesley Brown recorded a song quite a few years ago that addressed the reluctance we sometimes have to be uncomfortable. It’s entitled “Please Don’t Send Me to Africa!”

O Lord, I am your willing servant. You know that I have been for years.
I’m here in this pew every Sunday and Wednesday, I’ve stained it with many a tear.
I’ve given You years of my service, I’ve always given my best.
And I’ve never asked you for anything much, So, Lord, I deserve this request.

Please don’t send me to Africa, I don’t think I’ve got what it takes.
I’m just a man I’m not a Tarzan. Don’t like lions, gorillas or snakes.
I’ll serve you here in Suburbia in my comfortable middle class life.
But please don’t send me out into the bush where the natives are restless at night.

I’ll see that the money is gathered; I’ll see that the money is sent.
I’ll wash and stack the communion cups. I’ll tithe eleven percent.
I’ll volunteer for the nursery; I’ll go on the Youth retreat.
I’ll usher, I’ll deacon, I’ll go door to door  Just let me keep warming this seat.

Being a disciple of Jesus is not about being comfortable. It is about living a life that follows the example of Jesus. It is not always comfortable. Sometimes it can get really messy, if you are taking His love and showing to people who need. But that’s what He did. And that is what He wants you to do.

Sir Francis Drake was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe. He was either a hero or a pirate, depending on whether you were English or a Spaniard. But he wrote a prayer in 1577 entitled “Disturb Us, Lord” that speaks directly to living with the confidence of knowing Jesus is with us.

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves
When our dreams have come true
Because we dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the Waters of Life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.
Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery:
Where losing sight of land
We shall find the stars.
We ask you to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push us in the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.
This we ask in the name of our Captain,
Who is Jesus Christ.

Francis Drake, 1577

I would like to add to that line of reasoning:  Disturb us, Lord, so that we step out of our comfort zone and get out there where you would have us be, out there in the world, the cutting edge, with you by our side. Disturb us out of complacency so that we take seriously our pledge to use our hands to work for you, our feet to go on Your errands, our voice to sing Your praise, our lips to proclaim Your redeeming love, our silver and our gold to extend Your Kingdom, our will to do Your will, and every power of our life to the great task of bringing the lost and the erring into eternal fellowship with You.

Are you comfortable? Should you be? Be COMFORTED knowing that you have forgiveness and life and salvation for Jesus’ sake. But don’t sit there and be comfortable. Get busy. Take that love of Jesus you have and share it.