A Comfortable Life
By Shery Shehata
“Work hard now so you don’t have to work hard later.”
I know I’m not the only one that had this drilled into my brain from a young age. If you have first generation parents in particular, this is so important to them. They didn’t travel half-way around the world for you to struggle in life.
The simple goal is that we struggle up until the point where our output is no longer greater than our input. Beyond this point, you can live fairly comfortably. There is peace in being content – in not living beyond your means. I think this is an okay goal to have, to be peaceful and content after working hard and in turn, reap the rewards.
But then I get stuck on, “and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). It stumps me, because this comes after anxiety and distress. You give your anxiety and distress to God and He gives you peace in return, but what if I’m already comfortable, can’t I still have peace from God, too?
There is a type of peace that comes from God alone, when everything around me is falling apart, and there is an unexplainable peace within me. I can’t have that from being content in the world. If I think I am at peace when everything around me is good, then I am deceived. St John Chrysostom contemplates on this verse;
For who could have expected and who could have hoped for such benefits? It transcends every human intellect and all speech. For his enemies, for those who hated him, for the apostates—for all these he did not refuse to give his only begotten Son, so as to make peace with them…. The peace which will preserve us is the one of which Christ says, “My peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.” For this “peace surpasses all human understanding.” How? When he sees that we should be at peace with enemies, with the unrighteous, with those who display contentiousness and hostility toward us, how does this not pass human understanding?
St John Chrysostom
When St John Chrysostom speaks of peace, he links back to the life of Christ. That was not a comfortable life. Christ was confrontational, but nowadays, we don’t really like confrontation either, we like to, “keep the peace” instead.
The line, “keep the peace” is moreso, to keep us and everyone around us comfortable. To look outwardly peaceful is important in our modern Western world. But I can’t let that outward display be the only thing that is inside my heart. When I come to my Father, I come to Him in all honesty, so that the peace that surpasses all understanding guards my heart, and not the fake comfortable peace I think I have from the world.
While the world values comfort and being amicable with everyone around you, the goal of Love is different. When it comes to prayer, I cannot be deceived by a, “good day” that ends without prayer;
There are no good days or bad days. There are days with prayer and days without prayer.
St Pope Kyrillos VI
If a comfortable day becomes my definition of a good day, then I lose sight of what matters. My prayers become sporadic and centred on my own comfort and worldly goals, I miss the point of this life and the hereafter;
We are not to entreat God that our interests may thrive, or that our responsibilities and work may grow and flourish, thereby giving us earthly fame and glory, carnal peace and comfort. Rather, we should ask Him to root out all our affairs in the spirit of selfishness, which glorifies the human ego, and to inspire in us uprightness of mind and heart that we may not use guile, deceit, covetousness, falsehood, theft or lying in our work.
Fr Matthew the Poor, Guidelines for Prayer
In prayer, we re-centre our minds and our intentions toward Christ. In the world, everyone around me might be chasing fame, glory and carnal peace, but in my prayers, I seek uprightness of heart and mind. I pursue the love of Christ so that His glory and His peace are my foundations. This is where I find my true comfort.
God’s warning to us was always, “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world”( John 16:33).
Maybe our greatest tribulation is in the unseen – in our comfort, in our apathy, in our pursuits and our pleasures that draw us away from the Kingdom. When things are bad, at least this draws me to prayer. When things are good, what Cross do I feel then need to carry?
When the devil looked at Job, he saw a happy and righteous man that had all the comfort of the world. But I wonder what the devil could not see, if he never actually saw Job’s prayers. I wonder when Job got home, shut the door to his room, when no one else was around, did he wrestle with God in prayer for his soul even though by all worldly standards, he was comfortable?
Job continuously gave glory to God, which must have come from a genuine relationship with God. In wealth or in poverty, the relationship did stay the same. Job didn’t “see” God in his comfort, but in his tribulation (Job 42:5). Job would have heard from many about their tribulations that God delivered them from, but it was only after his own tribulation and loss that his eyes saw the work of God, too.
If we want to know our spiritual lives, we have to reflect on our consistency. When even a little bit of comfort is taken from me, what does my prayer life look like? If it’s a relationship I have, and I value that relationship, nothing will change. I might be upset, but my love for God is still there. Job received twice as much as before, for Job knew how to prioritise his relationship with the Father above all possessions he had.
If all I know is this world, then it makes sense but that I strive to get comfortable where I am, but if I read, if I pray, if I look to the saints who suffered before me, then I know I need to strive and push for the greater Kingdom that is to come. Glory be to God, Amen.