The Idolatry of Comfort
Jonah's idol was comfort. He was only interested in being obedient to God I’d he felt it would benefit him and not inconvenience him. He refused God’s instructions like he had a right to do so. He was a rebellious man who was not interested in the things of God. A follower of God loves the things He loves and hater the things He hates. Sadly Jonah misrepresented God in his message to the Ninevites. He did not mention God, repentance, or even give them hope. God never does that. He brings the Truth in love. He talks (Warns) of judgment, but always give a remedy- Opportunity to repent, He gives hope of avoiding the judgment by repenting and turning to God.
We can have the same idol as Jonah. Our own comfort is superior to the commands of God. We don’t like to be stretched when it comes to our faith. We don’t wanna be placed in the position where we are forced to trust in God and his promises. Sadly, we’ve all been there, but my desire is to grow in my face and knowledge of Jesus Christ. I want to encourage others to do that as well.
I need to place myself in a position where I am forced to trust God to meet my needs. I need my faith to be strengthened. I need to be established in his word where I have a holy determination to be obedient to God, no matter what. That is contrary to our fleshly nature. I need to be obedient to God to see his faithfulness. I know of so many Christians, who are unwilling to do that. They fall back on their senses, what they can perceive as truth. They fall back on self-sufficiency; if only I have enough money in the bank to accomplish this thing that I want to do.
A church can fall into the same pit as well. A church can stop ministry because they want to have money in the bank for the unforeseen circumstance. They can stop reaching out or loose their passion for the lost because they want to be comfortable. I see that God tells us to seek his kingdom and his righteousness and he’ll take care of the rest.
