Clergy/Leaders’ Mail-list No. 3-180 (Practical Christian Living)
COMFORTABLE GOALS
by Jill Carattini
A television commercial portrays a man in a restroom conducting an important business meeting on his cell phone. Cradling the phone between his head and his shoulder, the man reaches for the faucet, only to find his balancing skills falling short and his cell phone falling in the water. After presenting the problem-too much to do and not enough hands to do it, the solution, then, and the reason for the commercial, is the certain convenience of hands-free accessories for your phone! But I wonder how many other viewers paused and thought, “No, the solution is not to conduct a business meeting in the restroom.”
Similarly, a commercial on the radio presents a list of reasons for choosing a particular company over the many others like it. The ad concludes with the comment, “Because we, at such and such, know that nothing in life can be too convenient.”
By the countless 30-second philosophies continually flashing before our eyes and ears in the form of advertising, it would appear that life is much ado about comfort and convenience. We hear repeatedly, “Nothing in life can be too suited or favorable to one’s comfort.” It sounds good, especially when choosing a bank or a dry-cleaners, but I’m not sure we really believe it. In fact, I had a public speaking professor in college who energetically insisted that coming out of my “comfort zone” was the best thing I could do for myself. Though it was painfully realized, there was truth to his words. And I suspect many would agree; there are times in life when moving away from that sense of comfort is not only necessary but immensely rewarding. What art is admired lest the artist place his work in hands of the critic? What great love exists without great risk? On some real level, we seem to know that living is intrinsically more than being comfortable.
Nonetheless, like the cell phone commercial offering a convenient solution and overlooking the absurdity of a life which demands multi-tasking at every turn, it is quite easy to get distracted by the daily allure of comfort, the mirage of promise in our materialist mindset. In his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Steven Covey suggests that all too often we lose something in the translation from blueprint to building, from the final goal to the daily decisions that are meant to move us toward something. Covey reminds his readers that an effective person not only begins with the end in mind, but daily walks forward with that end in mind. When was the last time we asked, what is my life’s goal? What is the end I am seeking? Do I daily walk with this end in mind?
The poisonous effect of materialism is not so much the comfort itself as it is the implications of the mindset. We are told daily that it is possible to create the kingdom of heaven on earth. But we know this isn’t true merely by looking at the places in this world where “heaven on earth,” in this sense, would be most possible. Ironically, it is these areas that we see less contentment. When comfort becomes the end we seek, we will either become comfortably numb or habitually unsatisfied.
Journalist Malcolm Muggeridge spoke vehemently about the dilemma of Western materialism. He once commented that if we were to take Bunyan’s hero in The Pilgrim’s Progress as he is hurrying on through his mortal life pressing on toward the end, and suggest to Bunyan that his Pilgrim make a few stops along the way for the sake of earthly comfort, progress, or success, Bunyan would surely have thought that we’d taken leave of our senses! The essence of his Pilgrim is that he is pushing on toward the goal.
The essence of Christianity is that we are not natives of this world but children created for another, pressing on toward the goal, looking to Christ who shows us how. Indeed, when Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness and sweating blood in the Garden of Gethsemane over the task before him, keeping the end in mind and keeping his eyes on the Father were one in the same. As we walk forward, that is a comforting vision to keep in mind.
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Copyright (c) 2003 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM) Used by permission – all rights reserved. Slice of Infinity #466 http://www.gospelcom.net/rzim/publications/slice_index.php
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