6 minute read 
by Bethany Rees

I’m Addicted to Comfort

I am a creature of comfort. I crave it. I chase it. I coach others on how to find it. I’ll fight for it if I have to. And yes, I’ve even (quietly) judged others going through “preventable hardships” for not being more proactive build a buffer of comfort in their lives.

I’ve practically made a career out of structuring chaos to avoid discomfort. My life has been one big proactive strategy to sidestep pain and pad myself from hardship.

My Life Looks Comfortable…But Isn’t

From the outside, my life looks pretty comfortable. I’ve followed the best-practice paths. I've checked the boxes. I've achieved the goals. I've built a life that looks hardship-resistant. “I, I, I, I...”

But inside—where it really matters—I’m still uncomfortable.

I feel uncertain. Broken-hearted.

God Isn’t Calling Me to the Easy Road

So I find myself asking God: What do I do now? 

And that quiet nudging I sense from the Spirit? It’s telling me to step straight into the discomfort. 

"Say what now, God?"

"If I’m being a good steward of what You’ve given me, shouldn’t that come with peace and comfort? Internal peace—the kind that trusts God is working all things for good?"

Yes. But a life without work, pain, or hardship? That’s not the promise. 

God didn’t call me to a life of comfort. He called me to a life of faith and obedience. 

He called me to deny myself—my fleshly desire for comfort—and follow Him. 

The Myth of Comfort in Christian Living

God promises peace—but not a painless life. Jesus said:

“Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” ~ Matthew 16:24 [emphasis added] 

Jesus, God’s own son, suffered greatly while walking this earth. He was poor, hated, beaten, and crucified. He was the suffering servant of Isaiah 53.

“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” ~ Isaiah 53:3-5 [emphasis added]

My Obsession with Comfort Was Snuffing Out My Calling

My well-structured, chaos-avoiding life may have bought me time for my own desires—but it’s often snuffed out opportunities to serve others with purpose. I realized all my proactive comfort-seeking was making space for selfishness and closing the door on service. God didn’t ask for my proactive structures to create ease—He asked for my heart.

Life on this side of heaven will always include discomfort. As believers, we live in the world—but we’re not of it. We’re in the culture—but not shaped by it. And when you live in something that doesn’t align with who you are or what you’re called to, being comfortable will always be out of reach. 

So I have to surrender my craving for comfort and take the narrow path to whatever (or whoever) God is calling me to next. 

I also have to be careful not to seek people’s advice first—because let’s be honest, most advice is about how to avoid pain or shortcut our way back to comfort.

Even well-intentioned advice can miss the mark if it’s more about self-help than God-help. 

I’m no Apostle Paul—but when Jesus called him to purpose, it wasn’t a call to comfort. In fact, He told Ananias exactly what Paul was walking into: 

“...he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” ~Acts 9: 15b-16 [emphasis added]

As Paul surrendered to Jesus, his life was anything but cozy. He endured hardship after hardship: 

“Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.” ~ 2 Corinthians 11:24-28 [emphasis added]

After his missionary journeys, Paul felt the Spirit calling him back to Jerusalem—even though he knew danger was waiting. 

“And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. “ ~Acts 20:22-23 [emphasis added]

Obedience Isn’t Always Logical…But It Is Holy

Even the Apostle Paul got pushback from well-meaning believers when he followed the Spirit’s call into danger. But Paul knew: Obedience > Comfort.

Other believers received prophecies confirming the suffering Paul would face. Their loving response? Beg him not to go. 

“While we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. And coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’” When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. ~ Acts 21:10-12 [emphasis added]

Did you catch that? The Holy Spirit said: “Go.” The Holy Spirit revealed: “It’ll be hard.” And then the well-meaning believers said: “Don’t go. 

Setbacks Are Often the Setup

Paul knew—his job wasn’t to avoid pain. It was to obey. Period. He was ready to walk into any road, face any hardship, and trust God with the outcome… whatever that looked like. All for God’s glory.  

“Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” ~ Acts 21:13 [emphasis added]

“As it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” ~ Philippians 1:20-21 [emphasis added]

Paul was imprisoned—but where we see an end, God sees a way. His ministry didn’t stop behind bars. In fact, he wrote several letters from prison that still encourage believers today.

The Rough Road May Be the Right Road 

The more I read about Paul—and every other faithful believer in Scripture—the clearer it becomes: Their lives were full of hardship. But that hardship:

1) humbled their heart to depend on God,

2) became a tool to serve others “for such a time as this,” and

3) became a powerful testimony that God used to draw people to Himself.

I’ve already lived some of this out. My hardest seasons in leadership were actually the setup for the testimony I share in Leadership on the Rocks—a testimony that’s now encouraging other leaders in the wilderness. 

So from now on, I’m listening more closely to God. I want Him to show me when I’m chasing comfort—or handing it out as advice without the Spirit’s prompting.

Instead, I’m learning to be still. To surrender. And to walk in obedience—no matter what the road ahead holds. 

Know Better. Do Better. Live Better. Obedience over comfort!

Rocks before Sand!

Scripture: 

“Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” ~ Matthew 16:24

Theme Song: 

Andy Mineo - Uncomfortable 

References Used:

The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.