Comfort or Truth

“If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end: if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth — only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with and, in the end, despair.”

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

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Our hearts influence all we do. You can trace every thought, word, and action to a desire in your heart. 

What do you want most?

That’s what drives you. 

This quote in Mere Christianity jumped off the page when I read it this week because I think our desire for comfort rules the vast majority of us. 

It’s why we keep people at a distance instead of living in authentic community. We don’t want to make ourselves susceptible to differences and challenging conversations that are inevitable when living in close relationships with people. In desiring comfort above the community we’re created for, we settle for loneliness. 

It’s why we still seek the magic answer to our weight loss and/or health goals. We don’t want to subject ourselves to daily discipline and consistency over a lifetime. We want results without effort, so we settle for mentally, physically, and emotionally damaging consequences to the fads that promise effortless results. 

We want people to build us up exclusively and make us feel good instead of calling us out. We don’t want to experience the pain of having someone verbalize how we fall short, personally acknowledging those things and turning from them. To avoid this discomfort, we settle for a stagnant life.

It’s why we cherry-pick the Scriptures, looking for happiness, helpfulness, and hope and avoiding correction, rebuking, and training. We don’t want to process the ways we are called to change; we want to feel empowered with who we are today. When the Word of God is used for comfort, we neglect to acknowledge our greatest need and God’s most significant provision. Instead, we settle for words of comfort instead of the true hope found in the power and authority of God’s Word. 

God does not promise comfort in the way the world defines it. His promises to you are far greater than your microscopic view of what you want and need. Your understanding of who God is will significantly impact the desires of your heart. With a small view of God, you will easily continue to prioritize your comfort. You’ll see what you believe to be your best interests in everything you do. And that will end in despair. 

A high view of God will shape what you want most. You’ll desire more of Him when you taste and see His greatness and goodness. And that’s what you were created for. To be with Him and enjoy Him. How might your desire for comfort be affecting your enjoyment of God?

Submitting yourself to the authority of the Word of God, delighting in the truths of who He is and who He made you to be, and obeying all that He commands you to in His Word may be uncomfortable sometimes. But is capable of providing comfort in a way that nothing else in this world can. Seek comfort first, and you’re guaranteed despair in the end. 

Seek truth, friends.