Jesus dying on the cross is the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of discomfort for the gospel.  When I think of willingly sharing the gospel with a neighbor, it makes me wildly uncomfortable.  The awkward blank stare, the uncomfortable response, the possible confrontation, the possible “wow, she’s weird” thought they may have afterwards… it all makes me so uncomfortable.  You know what else makes me uncomfortable?  The thought of Jesus having to die for our sins.  It doesn’t make sense to us.  Jesus having to die, because we are prone to a natural tendency to sin, is hard to digest.

Too many of us don’t like getting uncomfortable in general, but especially with our own thoughts.  My husband is a prime example of this.  Whenever I hear a sad story, my initial response is to share what happened with someone close to me… that generally ends up being my husband on the receiving end.  I’ll usually start spilling the story and will likely end up crying while doing so and he usually responds with “why would I want to hear that?” or “why are you telling me this?”.  It’s not that he doesn’t care, it’s just that the story can be so uncomfortable and sad to hear, that he’d prefer to stay in the comfort of not knowing the story in general.  As followers of Christ, we are called to uncomfortable situations, even when we have a choice to not enter into that discomfort.  Empathy can be uncomfortable, yet God calls us to “bear one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2).  In bearing another’s burden, it can be quite uncomfortable for all parties, but this is an opportunity to show the love of Christ and be an example of who He is.  In bearing another’s burden, we can show how Christ suffered and mourns with us, how he never leaves us in our suffering or pain.  In bearing one another’s burden, we are choosing discomfort to help comfort someone else.  God willingly chose to send his only son to die for our sins so that we may have the chance to rest in eternal comfort with Him in heaven.  Have you ever shared that real truth with someone else?  It’s okay if you haven’t, but it’s also important that you do.  

God didn’t give you a story, a heart for salvation to not share it with others who don’t have that.  The idea of sharing the gospel and empathizing with others can be uncomfortable, but imagine seeing a friend on their way to hell.  Imagine seeing that friend go to hell, while you’re on the way to heaven.  That friend sees you and says “why didn’t you tell me there was a different way?” and your response is what?  Your response is “I was too afraid to upset you” or “I didn’t want to make it awkward”, or better yet “I didn’t want to lose you as a friend”.  Are any of those reasons greater than someone else’s salvation? It’s uncomfortable to think about that.  I’ll be honest, I’ve had a real fear of becoming a “crazy Jesus lady”… and here I am now.  God is meant to be shared and honored.  Jesus, what he did on the cross for us, and what he can do for every person is meant to be shared, even if you get called crazy in the process.  I’m willing to enter into that uncomfortable place, if it means my family will be saved.  I’m willing to tirelessly share who Jesus is, if it means one more soul is saved.  I’m willing to be the “crazy Jesus lady” who always talks about him, if it means another soul saved from hell.

As followers of Christ, you are essentially signing up to put yourself in uncomfortable situations.  You are trading the comfort of the world for the discomfort of going against the world.  While you’re trading the comfort of the world, you are choosing the ultimate comfort of Jesus Christ, who is the master comforter.

As I wrestled with God’s question of, “are you willing to make yourself uncomfortable for me?”, the image of Jesus on the cross kept coming into my mind.  The discomfort Jesus must have felt as his blood poured out because of my own sins.  My own selfishness, bitterness, anger, pride, lies, etc.  Because of my own sins, he had to die on the cross.  Because we are all so prone to sin from the fall of man, Jesus had to die on the cross.  Sometimes (a lot of the times), I choose the “easy route”, the “comfortable route” of just bypassing a certain moment in not sharing Jesus, so I don’t have to end in an “awkward moment”.  I have to be honest, I think I could talk about Jesus 24/7, but I choose to change the conversation a lot of the time in order to not “annoy people” or bother people with always talking about Jesus.  For what reason though?  Am I more afraid of what people will think of me rather than their own salvation? 

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.  Impress them on your children.  Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”  Deuteronomy 6:5-7 

It’s okay to want to talk about Jesus all the time, I think this verse is actually commanding us to do so.  To impress them on our children, talk about them at home, when we go out, when we go to sleep and wake up- essentially talk about Jesus and his commandments at any chance we can get. 

I believe one of the main reasons we don’t share Jesus is because we’ve become too comfortable with being comfortable with the world’s way versus God’s way.  It’s easier to let everyone “live their own truth” instead of the only truth and the way.  It’s easier to let everyone be complacent with “their truth” versus THE truth.  I’ll give you one last uncomfortable thought.  Imagine standing in front of Jesus giving an account for your life.  “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive what is due them for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” 2 Corinthians 5:10 So there Jesus is and there you are, standing face to face ready to give an account for certain things… and God asks you “why didn’t you share the good news with ______?” I’m sorry, I know this may feel like a condemning thought, but it’s not meant to be.  It’s meant to convict you, as it’s convicted and still is convicting me.  I can’t imagine standing in front of Jesus having to explain to him “well, I was too uncomfortable to share you”, or “I didn’t want to make it awkward”.  Your heart for salvation needs to be bigger than your fear of discomfort.  Salvation is too important to let fear of an uncomfortable situation scare you out of sharing Jesus.  If Jesus died for your sins, I think we can die to our pride.  Salvation can be uncomfortable, but sometimes we are called to be momentarily uncomfortable, with the hope of eternal comfort.