The cruise ship industry is an estimated 8 billion dollar a year business. Last year alone, millions of individuals made their way on board ships averaging over 1,000 feet long and several stories tall. It’s not surprising that the experience of a cruise is highly coveted. Passengers are greeted warmly by a small crew of dedicated workers set on meeting the desires of each and every passenger. People choose to go on cruises so that they can enjoy a limitless amount of luxury and comfort. Cruise ships are dedicated to meeting not only the needs but the wants of each of their customers. Take a stroll across the deck of a typical cruise ship and you see people swimming in pools, going down waterslides, sunbathing, eating obscene amounts of food, and drinking until they can no longer walk straight.

A Better Way

Battleships, on the other hand, are full of people who are gathered together for a single mission. Every person onboard the vessel is there to participate. Instead of a small minority working to provide extensive comfort for the majority, all on board work for the sake of the fulfillment of the assignment. Instead of chasing comfort, the sailors deliberately embrace discomfort for the good of their nation.

All too often the Christian church seems to possess the mentality of a modern-day cruise ship. A small group of people working hard to provide entrainment, comfort, and service for any that would find themselves “onboard.” Christians seem content to stroll through their lives demanding amenities rather than submitting themselves to service.

The Example of Jesus

Jesus makes no such allowances for those who would call themselves His followers. Instead, He said in Matthew 8:20 “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” He makes it clear that if you are hoping for a life of comfort and ease it won’t be found following Him. He came not to be served, but to serve. He traded the comforts of heaven for the difficulties of earth. He didn’t let a desire for a life of comfort and ease keep him from His assignment.

Caught in Comfort Unaware

Satan would love for you to be comfortable. He wants you so comfortable you forget about the war you are supposed to be enlisted in. He wants your comfort to send you drifting off to a sleepy sort of apathy that keeps you from ever doing anything consequential. He wants you so comfortable that you never actually need God to come through for you.

I’m afraid that the reality is many of us are more comfortable than we even realize. The problem is we can be so accustomed to this comfort that we don’t even recognize it. We fail to understand that we have allowed ourselves to be lulled to sleep by a lullaby leaving us in a state of spiritual lethargy and indifference. If you are going to do anything worthwhile it will require that you leave the clutches of your metaphorical couch.

Embracing the Difficulty 

If Jesus was as concerned for His own comfort as you and I are tempted to be, we would be left with no hope of salvation. But instead, He not only allowed discomfort into His life but in submission to His Father He intentionally sought out discomfort. The same must be true of you and me if we want to be used by God. As Jesus told His disciples in Luke 9:23, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” We need to go beyond allowing discomfort into our lives, and instead, throw ourselves into it.

Jesus did it for us. Will you do it for Him?