LEAVE COMFORT, JUMP INTO THE FIRE

Sir,

“When Jesus was coming close to Jericho, a blind man sat begging beside the road. The man heard the crowd walking by and asked what was happening,” Luke 18:35-36.

This man had a condition in his life, blindness. He did not like to be blind and did long for healing from it. He could have just locked himself up in some room and shut himself out from the world, but he didn’t. Instead, we see him around people who can see, near danger by the road. And that, is just what rescued him from his troubles.

When we face problems in life; shame, embarrassment and pain are some of the reasons that make us desire to just cut ourselves off from the world. We do not want people to know or see what we are going through. The shame and embarrassment of being in that state leads us to feel safe within those four walls, away from those staring eyes, the whispering lips and thinking minds. We fear that we no longer fit in and so do not qualify to be on those grounds anymore.

But this blind man woke up everyday to go and be with people who could see. The woman who had been bleeding for 12 years, imagine how hard this must have been for her, how embarrassing and painful. People probably ran away from her when she came, but she did not lock herself up. She kept going out into all that, everyday, looking for help. Imagine now if she or the blind man had locked themselves up, would they have met Jesus? Jesus was walking everyday in the streets, not visiting homes individually.

Solutions

The solution is not within those walls we choose. Whatever goal we seek to achieve, whatever it is we desire is not in comfort. People who have made it continue to lead uncomfortable lives trying to maintain that which they have and possibly have more. Jesus Himself never knew any comfort. Everyday, He was on the streets; preaching, healing and delivering people, to achieve the purpose He had come to serve on earth. God Himself through the Holy Spirit never rests even to this day. He is busy guiding us, warning us, teaching us, counselling us, comforting us, healing us, giving us wisdom and understanding and a whole of other things. No one ever achieves anything or keeps that which they have achieved by being comfortable. It is in those sacrifices of self, time, pleasures, comfort and a lot of other things, that anything at all is achieved.

Pain

Some problems that we face are not our fault while some are, but all the same, they bring about the same consequences; shame, embarrassment, guilt and pain. That pain of being without that which you desire, but seeing others have it. No, it is not jealousy or envy, it is pain. You deeply need and desire it, but just do not have it, no matter how hard you try. It brings shame and embarrassment. When a child goes to college or university for instance, they are happy, their families are happy and proud, probably even bragging to others in pride. Everyone knows about it, ‘Samu is at university or college, studying to be this’. Obviously when they finish, the expectation is that they will now find a job and become better than they were.

But then when that does not happen, suddenly things change. That pride and expectation fades away. Suddenly, there is regret, pain, shame, embarrassment. Samu sees his friends driving cars, building houses, waking up everyday to go to work. He on the other side, has to go back to being taken care of even though he worked so hard studying to try and be the one taking care of others. It feels like the whole world stares at him with that ‘failure’ label on him. It feels like everyone believes that he is lazy and not doing enough to find that job while he is doing all he can.

And yes, that too; working very hard to look for work and not find even one that does not require his certificate. Instead, worse happens even in the market; companies begin to say they only want candidates with certificates not older than a certain number of years. All that life he hoped to live with his family seems to be only a dream. What then? With all that going on, the safest place to be in, seems to be indoors, away from the world and not to mention places that just might make him cross paths with his old friends who have made it.

While that place may seem to be a place of comfort; a safe space; it will not get Samu anywhere. It does not get anyone anywhere! He, might just remain that way or even get worse; fall into depression and die. Out there in the world, in that pain and shame and embarrassment is where the help is. The Bible says that, if you spend time with the wise, you will become wise as well. It is uncomfortable, even more embarrassing and crushes you even more, but as they say, birds of the same feathers flock together. Even if at first you don’t have the same feathers, the more time you spend with those birds, is the more you end up with their feathers.

 Choosing to endure it all and still spend your time with the kind of people you want to become is what gets us there. The blind man spent his days with people who could see and eventually he was able to see. He used the eyes of those who could see to help get the eyes he desired. The people who could see, helped him see his solution. The blind man we see, already knew what the solution to his problem was and he was prepared. But then, he couldn’t see. His solution was going to pass him by, without him knowing because of this.

But again, we see that he had placed himself in the right position to receive his sight. Out there, in the public, there were very high chances of meeting with Jesus. And since he was around people who had come to know him and which he had come to know, what he did not have, they had. They were able to help him see that his prayers were just about to be answered.

Praying

Sometimes, it is not that we are not praying well or anything like that. It is not that opportunities do not come, but that we are not in the right place. If you want the rain to get you wet, you have to be outside when it rains. If you are inside, all locked up and cosy; it can never get to you, no matter how hard it may try. Zechariah, the priest, and his wife had been praying for a child. The angel did not deliver their good news at their home, but exactly where Zechariah was supposed to be at that given time; on duty, in church.

Now what if he had chosen to be depressed and locked himself up at his house with his wife? Even Samu in the example; being in the midst of those people will help him see available opportunities which he can take advantage of. There might even be advices of how to better take advantage of these opportunities.

So, before we choose comfort over shame, embarrassment and pain, let us not forget that comfort actually prevents us from getting to that which we desire. Sorrow endures for a night, but joy, comes in the morning.

We should not forget that no morning comes unless there has been a night. So, no night, no morning! Let us not escape the night with all its sorrows and pains, so that we can experience the morning with all its joys.

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