Armodoxy for Today: Comfort Level

Thermostats control the temperature and in theory, they should make the atmosphere pleasant. Comfort is something we all enjoy, whether physically relaxing or seeking serenity from our mental stimulation.

At the Ascension, the Disciples graduated from their studies with Jesus and were being commissioned to “Go and make disciples of all nations.” These were marching orders into some very intolerant areas. The disciples were receiving these orders from Jesus, who only 40 days earlier was tried, convicted and executed by the ruling religious body of the day. What is known as the “Great Commission,” given at the  Ascension, was taking them out of their comfort level. It was like sending a sailboat outside of the calm harbor on a trip through choppy ocean waters.

When Jesus ascended into heaven, we read in the Book of Acts, that while the Disciples “were gazing into heaven… two men stood by them in white robes and said “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:10-11)  In other words, get your head out of the clouds; there’s work to be done!

“Gazing into heaven” is one way that people hide from reality. Since the time of Christ to the present, there are ample numbers of people who devote their lives to trying to figure out when the earth will end, when Jesus will return, or when the final judgement will occur. This, despite Jesus’ warning, that the preoccupation with end time deciphering is out of our domain, but reserved for God the Father.

The Christian is a restless person. The comfort thermostat is broken for the Christian. It has to be because love, caring, sacrificing, are all Christian actions that take us out of the comfort zone. These actions require us to not look up to heaven, but to look all around us, to the presence of God in our fellow man.

Jesus describes the final judgment as I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was naked and you clothed me, I was ill or grieving and you comforted me. Whenever you did it to the least of my brothers or sisters, you did it to me. And all you didn’t do, you didn’t do for me.  (Matthew 25)

The same question comes to us today: Why are we standing and looking up into heaven? The Kingdom is all around us.

We pray, Lord, gaze my eyes on Your Kingdom which is all around me. Help me to curb by desire for comfort by finding the pleasure in loving and giving. Amen.