(no subject)

[chess]

'comfort' is not the right word.

'I'm sure you get a lot of comfort from it' is not a phrase I would agree with, regards to Christianity.

I do get a lot, I know; I get a lot of blessings. I get a coherant framework for my life, there are moments of fierce and powerful joy, there is community and friendships, there's a whole number of things-to-do that become more attractive options, there's even a ton of free food.

But 'comfort' is not the word I would use, because it implies that Christianity is something that I can use to justify the things I would do anyway. Believe me, it isn't. There are much darker paths along which I would have strayed was it not for my faith.

I have been saved not only in the overall metaphysical sense of where I am going when I die, but in many small ways from many small deaths I would otherwise have found. The journey has been glorious and in places unbelievable, but rarely comfortable. My faith sustains me, it keeps my head above the water and the sharks at bay, but comfort? That's generally a warning sign.

Comments

[phamster.livejournal.com]

I prefer to refer to it as strength. The strength to do what needs doing. Whetever that's continuing with what you are doing. Changing an attitude to leave a crowd, facing something. Whatever, it's strength. Not comfort. There's almost never any comfort in doing what needs doing. As simply because it needs doing, means you have to step away from what's comfortable and already being done.