Dangerous Edge of Apathy: The Idolatry of Comfort
“For every Christian will become at last what his desires have made him. We all are the sum total of our hungers.” A.W. Tozer wrote this statement in his book, the Root of the Righteous. These words beckon a reflective moment within us. They beckon us to contend with self. What is it after which we hunger? What is it that draws us by desire?
In my own wrestling with this statement, the assessment I have made about my own hunger is the underpinning, unquenchable desire for comfort.
Comfort?
Yes, comfort. Most of my striving for comfort, in the last few years, have been attempts to silence the aching of my heart from the diseases and losses we’ve endured. My striving for comfort has been to quench the ache of grief that has permeated our lives and exhausted us mentally, physically and emotionally. I’ve tried with all my might to ease the pain for my kids, for my parents and for myself.
The center of many pursuits of hunger impinges on the desire for comfort. The longing for total satisfaction has the strength within it to lull us into a sleepy stupor. We become all too content with the low and slow hum of the “status quo”. In the quest toward comfort, we tiptoe onward nearing the dangerous edge of apathy.
Perhaps we have so positioned and boxed ourselves into a corner of self-protection and comfortability that we have lost the fervor and the urgency for a life well lived, full and flourishing, even if it costs us momentary losses of comfort along the way.
Do we hunger for comfort more than we hunger for more of God? Do we hunger for a ripple-less life that has the façade of ease and constant tranquility. In the effort to move from comfort to comfort we leave ourselves susceptible to shallow lives that have no substance and therefore have no impact.
Shallow lives of no impact are the result of dangerous apathy. Apathy is the antithesis of what God desires for us. He longs that we would be zealous for Him. He is a gentleman, and He will never assume or push himself on any of us. But it is for our benefit that He becomes the focal point of our lives. With Christ in the bull’s eye position, life is flooded with possibilities, potential, and power that His kingdom provides.
What Tozer wrote is grounded in Biblical truth, we become what we seek and hunger after.
The psalmist in Psalm 115 warns us of the very awareness A.W. Tozer shined a light on when he said, “we are the sum total of our hungers.” The psalmist puts it this way, “Why do the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’ Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him. But their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell. They have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but cannot walk,
nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.”
Just imagine! You, and me, so head over heels in love with comfort that we are entranced to pursue nothing worthwhile, nothing that engages our passions. Passions die on the battlefield of comfort.
Oh, would I be so bold to challenge us to say that comfort, though not a graven image, has a tangible graven result, all around us. We can become enmeshed in the pursuit of comfort, that convenience, satisfaction, pleasure and luxury have taken up residence on the throne of our hearts.
We seek comfort that is made by human hands, like these formed idols. We exchange true comfort, knowing and loving Jesus Christ, for comfort that is temporary and fleeting. In the same vein, the Apostle Paul coaches us toward the one true God when he wrote to the church of Corinth.
He encouraged them to posture themselves with their face toward the Lord and His glory. He encouraged posturing themselves in worship to the One True and everlasting King of Kings. A gaze on the Lord, transforms us to His likeness.
2 Corinthians 3:18 (CSB) says, “We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
If we become what we worship, “the sum of what we hunger after,” then why would we want to settle for anything less than the God of the universe?
The worship, dare I say the idolatry of comfort, does not afford us the opportunity to be transformed into the image of God. This form of idolatry transforms us into self-centered, unconcerned worshippers. A complacent life doesn’t make space for God’s glory to transform us and to be revealed through us because it is self-absorbed, not God-absorbed.
Matthew 6:33 (AMP) hastens in this same glorious pursuit to jolt its readers from a life of dangerous apathy, “But first and most importantly seek (aim at, strive after) His kingdom and His righteousness [His way of doing and being right—the attitude and character of God], and all these things will be given to you also.”
When we seek the Kingdom, His glory is revealed through us, which paves the way for “all these things” to be added to us. It’s not that God doesn’t want us to experience comfort. God is comfort. He wants nothing more than to give us more of Himself. The difference is that the comfort He provides is not circumstantial comfort. It is a comfort that is saturated in His presence, wisdom and grace.
The comfort God provides is lasting, from generation to generation, season to season. The contentment of God generously comes to us like the sunrise, warm, bright, glorious and beautiful. His is a feeling of restful sufficiency that pours forth on us, His sons and daughters. His wholly devoted worshippers, oh that these words would be said of us, that we may experience the secure and compassionate delight of God’s presence.
Where do you sit my friend? Do you stand on the bitter edge of apathy, with the idol of comfort securely in your grasp? What have you become as the “sum of all your hungers”? Is your sum what you want it to be? Or has the jostle of this message from me and Tozer aroused you to hunger for something, or someone greater?
I encourage you to stand on the edge, not of apathy, but of the sunrise of God’s presence, and feel the warmth of His comforting presence wash over you. Let His presence transform you into His likeness.
If you want to grow deeper in your relationship with God, check out my 8-week devotional, Ascent to Know Him.
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