Friday, 09 October 2009

• Does Your Comfort Matter?

   I have a pet boxer puppy...

  

  Her name is Lexi....Well, to tell you the truth, she belongs to my brother, so she isn't really mine...

  Lexi can be fun to have around. She is always the center of attention when new company comes around, she tilts her head when she hears a weird sound that she doesn't understand, and she still chases her tail, even though it's been reduced to a stump before we even bought her. It's funny to watch... and she is the light of my brother's life right now...

  But don't let the picture fool you, with the sad puppy eyes and the black face with the white around her nose... She might look cute, but she is the devil.
  

  I came home one night from church. I went into my bedroom right away and got online. As I was sitting in my bed, I smelled something... it wasn't a good smell, but my room was a mess, so I ignored it. But for some reason, I looked down and I saw that the computer cord was in a pile of dog crap... ON MY BED!

  Naturally, I was furious. I had just washed the comforter the day before and now I had to wash it again! I cleaned up the dog's mess and after I threw the comforter into the washer, I paced back and forth, sighing and groaning in frustration and anger. Admittedly, I lost my cool. Everyone in the house laughed at me, not only for my unfortunate circumstance, but also at how I reacted to such a trivial matter.

  I got really angry... because for that moment, things didn't go the way I planned. I wasn't in control, and my hopes of going to bed warm that night were crushed because my comforter was now in the washer... and by the time I would be in bed, it would have only been in the dryer... It would have never gotten done in time... Then, there is the fact that the dog even came in my room to begin with.... These thoughts took control of my actions... and my emotions caused a reaction that was... well... comical... because I was angry about my discomfort for one night... how stupid is that?

  In the Bible, Paul tells us what he went through to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ. First of all, Jesus himself blinded Paul for three days... and for three days, he didn't eat or drink. Later, Paul went through many other dangers. He says in 2 Corinthians 11:23-27 "I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked." Paul says earlier in the letter that "...our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

  Now wait a minute... Paul said that on five separate occasions, he was flogged 39 times... Back then, they didn't give you a full 40 lashes because it was said that 40 would kill a person. But what is 39 x 5? 195? That is almost 200 painful lashes across his back. He was beaten with rods three times, he was stoned (until they thought he was dead)... can you imagine the scar tissue Paul would have had to have built up? By the end of his life, Paul probably wasn't a pretty man. Certainly, he lived a hard life... but that isn't what Paul thought about. He fixed his eyes on what was unseen... because that was what was eternal. He didn't look at the afflictions he went through... he didn't sit there and think, "Oh, Woe is me! I am being bullied by my enemies!" He felt like life was too short to think about those things. Instead, he looked at those as momentary troubles which were achieving an eternal glory that outweighs all the troubles he's even been through.

  I know a man whose motto is, "In 200 years, it won't matter." And my dad always likes to say, "It ain't nothin' but a thing..." These are great attitudes when facing hardships or moments of uncomfortably. Why would I get so worked up if the dog takes a fresh dump on my bed? Why should I let that bother me? In light of eternity, it really doesn't matter, does it? Because all of this... everything that I have here, whether it be my home, my family, my books, my blog, everything I have... it's all here for a moment... and the discomfort I go through... the pain you go through... all of that will be outweighed by God's eternal glory when we enter into eternity... and none of it will ever matter...

  In light of eternity, does your comfort matter?

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