A couple days ago I went to Encuentro, which is the youth group like meeting that my study abroad program does each week. We met outside in the Parque de los Principes. It was a beautiful day and one of the pictures that will stick in my head forever (snapshots as my roomie Ally would call them). Jenna asked us to reflect on the past three months. How had we changed? What was one way that God was calling us to step out in faith? What are some of the ways we can continue to step out of our comfort zone?
I was in a group with Abby and Alyssa, and we started talking about how challenging it has been to consistently stay in the Word, to find a church that we feel fills us up, to find others who build us up, to relearn how to be part of a community that isn’t our college, our group of Christian friends, our church, our family. And Abby brought up a good point: we are so used to things being convenient.
At college there was always a montón (a lot of) of opportunities to be filled up and sent out. Hall events up to our ears. Chapel three times a week. Church on Sunday mornings with your friends. Messages filled with new ideas. Prayers and devotions in class.
Being a Christian is pretty convenient on a Christian campus.
And I’m not really sure how to deal with that or what it’s going to look like when I go back to my home but the more time I’ve spent away from my convenient Christian place, the more I have realized how convenient it is. God is challenging me to not live in convenience, not to settle for convenience. Not to get stuck wearing a hoodie, drinking coffee from the same cup, listening to the same words of the world over and over because it’s convenient and what I like and have always done.
During Encuentro Jenna also told us, “God has so much more for you than comfort.” He has more than the comfort of McConn coffee, hooded sweatshirts, and routine for us. He calls us to turn from comfortable, from the known things, the routine of a perfect Christian front and settle for nothing less than Him.
As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.”
But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details. There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Luke 10:38-41 NLT
Martha sought convenience and comfort. But Mary…Mary sought Christ.
