If you want to really walk with Christ, then you better get comfortable being uncomfortable. I’m sorry, but that’s just the way it is. It’s not a bad thing. It’s a righteous discomfort. He just wants you to be more like Him, and well, you’ve got some work to do.

When you start working out, that first warm-up routine feels like it’s going to kill you. But over time as you build strength and get in better shape, the workout gets easier. It becomes second nature. But if you keep doing the same workout, you stall out. That discomfort is what grows you. It’s not fun, but it’s necessary.

We can eventually reach our physical goals. We can lose enough weight to fit into those pants. We can get our cholesterol to a level where our doctor leaves us alone. We can stop doing that thing we know is bad for us.

But our walk with God is the ultimate chase for an unattainable goal. You can read and pray 24 hours a day with the best of intentions and the most receptive heart in human history, and you’ll never come close to full sanctification on this side of eternity. But the overwhelming magnitude of it is enough to cause a lot of Christians to eventually throw up our hands at the fact that “we’ll never get it”. Or worse, we’ll think we actually have.

I love the way Ben said it once: God loves you the way you are, but He refuses to let you stay that way. In fact, He loves you SO MUCH THAT He refuses to let you stay that way. So get comfortable being uncomfortable. And be grateful that He loves you enough to want more for you than you do.