Dear readers, I write to you today with an odd letter, but one nevertheless I feel led to share.
The main topic involves reckless abandonment. So if that’s out of your comfort zone you might need to opt-out now.
We all like comfort, I think it’s a human tendency overall.
Yet, should we actually live there?
Do we need comfort in order to live our lives?
Here’s a silly example, some of you may know this already but I loathe more than anything in the world is to walk barefoot.
It gives me the willies.
2/10 I would not recommend the experience at all.
You might think I’m kidding.
I have never been more serious in my life.
Yet, when I signed up for The World Race I knew ahead of time there was many things I was going to sacrifice and abandon for 11 months.
My time, my money, my friends and family, my car, my consistent Wi-Fi, my bed, but most importantly my control and my comfort.
Now, don’t hear me wrong. I believe in free will, I know that God has blessed me with that. But I also know and trust that He goes before me, and makes my path straight. Even when I don’t understand at the moment.
My comfort was something that was very important to me. God knew that, and He immediately began to deconstruct that before my very eyes.
My sandals broke within the first week, and a majority of my socks were either lost or not packed in my pack, to begin with.
I have had to walk around barefoot many times.
When Jesus tells His followers to take up their cross daily and follow Him, they must have paused long and hard for a moment. Then proceed to give Him the weirdest look.
Crosses were not a popular topic of conversation back then; they all knew that crosses involved death in a horrible way. Why would their teacher, the Son of God bring up such a horrible subject?
How does one take up their cross every day?
What does that even mean?
Jesus is talking about death. Dying each day.
Dying to yourself, and to those around you.
Do we actually take this seriously?
Dying to yourself includes killing that which is within you.
Your pride, your lust, your sinful nature, anger and bitterness, your comfort, anything that is not of God.
If anyone ever says to you “God wouldn’t do that to me, He wouldn’t give me something that would make me uncomfortable.”
Yeah well, if we looked at the many stories of people in the Bible who lived through terrible and great trials and circumstances, and God was still by their side, even in their discomfort, He was their only peace of mind at the end of the day.
I have had so much happen to me in the two weeks here in Costa Rica that most of us would say is outside of our comfort zone over in America.
I’ve eaten a lot of odd food, most of which I have not been able to stomach well.
I have been covered in different bites and skin irritations consistently. New ones each day to be more precise.
I have sat, stood, and squeezed into trunks, trailers, and vehicles just to get from point A to B.
I have had no hot showers for almost 3 weeks now.
I have been told to serve/work in different scenarios where I’ve had absolutely no training beforehand.
I have had little to no comfort ever since I told God I would go anywhere He pointed me.
Yet, why have I loved every minute of it?
I’ve learned that I don’t desire comfort in anything this world has to offer me anymore.
If I truly desire intimacy with The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit I need to abandon everything, take up my cross, and lay it all down at His feet and repeat every day.
The refinement process of sanctification is amazing if you allow The Holy Spirit to do His work. He can’t work unless you lay down your life in order to be remade and reshaped.
That involves dying.
That involves sacrificing comfort.
That involves handing God the things you’re afraid to give Him.
But here’s the thing you can trust Him. In scripture, God and His Spirit have been called The Comforter and The Prince of Peace.
He literally is the only thing that can fill the void that the world desperately attempts to fill with distractions.
I urge you to go and walk barefoot.
Or give something up that you rely on for comfort.
Maybe it’s music, or your favorite TV Show, or maybe even Coffee.
If God asked you to abandon the one thing that you hold onto dearly would you do it?
You really do become more intimate with Him when you let go of everything else that holds you back.
It may hurt at first, but it is so worth it in the end.
After you’re done reading this letter, I really encourage you to go sit with Him and ask if there’s anything that needs to be abandoned in your life.
Spoiler alert, there always is.
Find it, and lay it on the table. Let God do whatever He wants with it.
You need to learn to fully trust Him, as do I.
Until next time,
-Mitchell
