10 Signs You Might be Too Spiritually Comfortable

God did not call Christians to be comfortable.

How does reading those words make you feel? After all, there is a certain comfort in being a Christian, because we know that we are going to heaven should we remain faithful to the cause of Christ. There is a peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7) that does bring a certain level of comfort into our lives.

There is also, however, a level of comfort that can be highly unproductive, and can even destroy our soul if we allow it to do so. We call the problem “apathy,” and it is a major problem for a lot of people who are in the pews regularly. Maybe it’s a problem for you, and it could be a problem for me if I let apathy have its way.

Here are 10 signs that you might be a bit too comfortable in your religious life:

1. You say “I like the Church this size” and honestly wish it would not grow. In fact, if it were smaller, you’d be quite happy, because then “I could know everybody.”

2. You can name everything God says not to do (drink, smoke, fornicate, etc.), but aren’t too concerned with what He says to do (evangelize, forgive, show hospitality, etc.).

3. Deep down, you think those who would go on foreign mission trips are strange at best, and downright crazy at worst. Your whole reason? “Look at what they are giving up.”

4. Your “mirror” (read James 1:23-25) is dusty, but somehow you claim to be living it out.

5. You think that “We’ve never done it that way before” is a good religious argument. Your second favorite is, “We tried that in 1962 and it didn’t work.”

6. So long as you know what you believe, you don’t really care to find out why you believe those things.

7. You measure faithfulness in ABC’s (attendance, building, contribution) only. If those remain unchanged, then we must be faithful, because “at least we aren’t dropping off.” (Just make sure you focus on Sunday morning attendance only, and not how many people are serving their fellow man in the name of Jesus behind the scenes.)

8. The elders announce that extra time is going to be spent next Sunday focusing on the Lord’s Supper (or singing, or prayer…) and you are upset. After all, “I don’t need to take that much time to focus on that.”

9. The next time you increase your contribution will be the first time since you got out of school. $10 showed faith then, and $10 shows faith now.

10. When you read the book of Acts, you think those Christians were too dangerous and their example wouldn’t really work in today’s world.

QUESTION: What are some other signs that you might be spiritually comfortable? Leave your additions to our list in the comments!

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Photo credit: camknows on Creative Commons

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