Uncomfortable

by Jalen Gardner

On September 18, 2015, Andy Mineo dropped one of the best Christian rap albums of all time, Uncomfortable. Even if you have a bad taste in music and don’t like rap (kidding), I’m sure you could find something you like about this album. While some people may not like the social commentary he provided in some of his lyrics, if you lean into them, the entire theme of the album becomes apparent: being too comfortable. Andy addresses things many of us struggle with. We often find ourselves being prisoners to our desires, living only to maintain what we have and striving for the things we lust over. 

The first words you hear are, 

“Nobody told me you could die like this
Nobody told me you could die from bliss, yeah
Nobody told me, nobody told me
We never ever saw it comin', no, no
Live it up, live it up
Nobody ever told us we could die like this
Live it up, live it up
Nobody ever told us, we never saw it comin', no
Live it up, live it up
Nobody ever told us we could die like this
Live it up, live it up
Corrupted by the comfort we (love, love)”

This sets the tone for the whole album, and it speaks to the heart of the reality that we will all face one day. We find ourselves in this cycle of maintaining and wanting more, we can forget why we’re even here. We lose sight of the reason that life was breathed into Adam from the beginning. We forget that these things and the comfort we desire will soon fade away, but there is so much more that will remain the same. 

For some of us, it’s not even the material things we find comfort in, but we find comfort in keeping Jesus at a distance, while still maintaining our status with Him. We are okay with the status quo and keeping Him reserved for the good (or bad) times, but nothing consistent or meaningful. At New City, we have defined being a disciple as someone who is increasingly being with Jesus, becoming like Jesus, and doing what Jesus did and does. The word increasingly gives us the charge that we cannot continuously live on the faith of our past, but we have to long for Jesus and his new mercies each and every day. Jesus modeled this for us. While thousands of people were coming to Him to be healed & heard, Jesus retreated to spend time with the Father (Mark 1:35). There were several other times in Scripture in which Jesus, God in the flesh, prioritized time away to increase His connection with the Father. 

Often, I need to remind myself of why Jesus made this such a priority. Surely, Jesus out of everyone could have gone with the flow of the day and still been able to keep the main thing the main thing, right? Maybe so, but we’ll never know because He always made it a priority. Too often, I deceive myself into believing that I can continue to survive on Friday off of the time I had with the Lord on Monday.. or the Monday before.. or the Monday two months ago. It is easy to allow busyness or comfort to get in between the relationship my body and soul naturally yearn for. The thing I wish I would remember the most is that if Jesus, the son of God, who was tasked with being the atonement for our sins, found time to retreat and spend time with the Father, just maybe, I should prioritize it in my life. 

If I’m being honest, I have gotten really comfortable in this temporary home of mine. Although it is not perfect, the Lord has blessed me with a fairly comfortable life. So much so, that I too quickly fall in love with life rather than the One who has allowed me to have it. Instead of living to glorify Him, I live in fear that if I get too close, He might take it all away to teach me some kind of lesson or test my faith. I look to Job and justify my selfishness by saying, “Look how you treated Job. He was such a good servant, but you took everything from him. Maybe If I’m good but not too good, I can keep my things and life will be good.”

I’ve recently come to grips with a few things. 1. That is really dumb of me. 2. That is pretty shaky theology and a poor view of God and how He loves us. 3. Even if He did take away all that I had, I would still be thankful for what He has given me in eternity. The problem I faced is that I had grown too comfortable with the provisions He’d given me. I wanted the comfort more than I wanted Him, meaning that I had gotten it all wrong. 

Unfortunately, I know that I am not alone in this. I know that so many of us have gotten comfortable with our lifestyles and ways of thinking, and we do not want them to change. We do not want God to change it and we do not want to be called to more because we are comfortable. This mindset changes more than we’d like to admit. It changes how we view our purpose on earth, it changes how we view others around us, it changes how we plan for the future, who we vote for, how we view God. It warps everything around us. As a beautiful body of diverse believers, in no way do I think we should all become a monolith of thinkers who become robots in the way we live, but I do believe that we should all have the same mission while here on Earth. 

We are not on Earth to bring glory and comfort to ourselves, but to bring glory to the Father, telling everyone around us what Jesus has done for us. That He took the place when we deserved death! Telling people about the good news should be our ultimate priority, not our comfort! When our comfort takes precedence over all, we miss out on the redemption that is taking place all around us. If we believe that God is making all things new, we should want to be a part of that! We should want to be obedient to the Holy Spirit working and moving through us to do His work, not stack up pleasantries for our well-being. 

One of my favorite songs on Uncomfortable is “Vendetta.” Throughout the song, Andy exclaims the lack of faith he has for the government and other powers that be because of their love of money. He also talks to the influence artists often have over government officials and the news because of the natural distrust there. But the way He ends the songs wraps this up beautifully, 

“Hold up, how I’m talkin?
I got excess, others got need
I gotta answer to God for all of these sneaks
I got a hundred pairs, but only two feet
God forgive me, I've been thinkin' 'bout me
We point fingers at people who sin different, skin different
But the same color we bleed
You wanna know the real problem in America?
Always has been and it always will be, me
If you had any other answer you've been deceived
We've been lookin' for salvation in education, money, leaders, and policies
But we got a bigger need
We got a sin debt that we inherited
We divide ourself by class, skin color, and our heritage
Well our Creator bankrupt the heaven so that we could all be there with him
Brothers and sisters”

We were created to live in relationship and harmony with God, not to live comfortably in our own bubbles and bicker about who can make life better for us. Regardless of external circumstances, good or bad, our mission is to proclaim the good news of Christ. We have been charged to love our neighbor and take care of those who cannot take care of themselves. WE are tasked with being part of the redemption of the world, so let us step out of our comfort and get to work. The longer we wait to work, the more comfortable we get with not doing it.