THE IDOL: Comfort. 

Watch a few commercials in 2025 and you’ll soon discover that everyone is selling the same thing: comfort and ease. Have food delivered with the click of a button. Enjoy another binge-worthy Netflix series. Download an app to easily secure a mortgage loan in 3 minutes. Skip the grocery store and order from your phone. Free same-day delivery with Prime. I could go on. 

None of these things are inherently bad. In fact, I think a lot of them are great! Here is where danger can creep in though: instead of enjoying comfort and ease, we begin demanding it. Comfort becomes an idol when we put it in the driver's seat and we start making all decisions based on what will preserve the ease in our lives. 

The messaging of the world gives two different definitions of comfort. We’ll walk through both and provide diagnostic questions to help you determine which one you may struggle with more. 

#1: We’ll call this one “lazy comfort.” The idea is to avoid all pain and all difficulty at all costs. It is an overall unwillingness to do hard things. A sense of entitlement often accompanies this idol - “my needs should be met without me having to become uncomfortable.” In the Proverbs, Solomon speaks to this type of comfort idol: 

¹⁰ “A little sleep, a little slumber, 

a little folding of the hands to rest, 

¹¹ and poverty will come upon you like a robber, 

and want like an armed man.” (Prov. 6:10-11) 

If you don’t think anything is worth discomfort, then you will be unable to provide for yourself and others. 

¹⁴ “As a door turns on its hinges, 

so does a sluggard on his bed. 

¹⁵ The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; 

it wears him out to bring it back to his mouth.” (Prov. 26:14-15) 

If you don’t think anything is worth discomfort, then you’ll sleep your life away. If you don’t think anything is worth discomfort, then you’ll never accomplish anything. 

Diagnostic Questions: Do I avoid difficult things even when they are important and necessary? Am I a chronic procrastinator? Do I put forth minimum effort in my responsibilities because it’s too hard or too much?

#2: The second way this idol can be expressed is through “successful comfort.” Instead of being lazy, these people are willing to work hard for their comfort. They reason that being rich is more comfortable than being poor. They have a dream of the good and easy life in their head, and they put in the effort to get there. Solomon’s other wisdom book, Ecclesiastes, speaks to this type of comfort: 

⁴ “I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. ⁵ I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. ⁶ I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. ⁷ I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. ⁸ I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the sons of man. 

⁹ So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. ¹⁰ And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil.” (Eccl. 2:4-10) 

Solomon worked his tail off to build a life of ultimate comfort and pleasure. He had everything a man could dream of and more. And his heart found some pleasure in this endeavor (v.10). But after spending time reflecting in his comfort, this is his conclusion: 

¹¹ “Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.” (Eccl. 2:11) 

The highest level of comfort we could imagine here on earth turned out to be empty and useless. Solomon learned that the hard way. And we see many successful people today learn the same lesson. They are rich and comfortable and well taken care of. Yet they are empty and insecure and still searching for something more. 

When Tom Brady and the New England Patriots were at the height of their powers, Brady made an interesting comment in an interview: 

“Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there’s something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, ‘Hey man, this is what is.’ I reached my goal, my dream, my life. I think, ‘God, it’s got to be more than this.’ I mean this isn’t - this can’t be what it’s all cracked up to be . . . ”

Diagnostic Questions: Am I aiming for a perfect ideal of life where I have success and ease? Do I view pain and suffering as the worst possible scenario? Do I believe suffering is worse than meaninglessness and having no purpose?  

Both the lazy and successful versions of comfort will tell us lies. Here is how the idol seeks to deceive us:

THE LIE: Suffering and pain are never worth it. Life is all about achieving perfect mental health and inner peace. Life is supposed to be easy. Whatever feels good is right. If I build a comfortable life, then I will be happy. Comfort is the absence of suffering. 

Jesus never promised us the absence of suffering in this life. On the contrary, He promises the presence of it (John 16:33)! Christians won’t always be comfortable - at least not in the world’s definition of that word. In fact, we will most often be uncomfortable because the world will hate us, we will have trials, and we will always be growing. 

This is why we live based on God’s Word, not based on our feelings or our desire for the easy. Temporary comfort is not strong enough to bring deep, lasting joy. Only Jesus can do that! And that leads us to the good news.

THE GOSPEL: Jesus believed rescuing you was worth His discomfort! He offers us more than comfort - He offers us Himself. 

Lazy comfort. Successful comfort. Third option: Gospel Comfort. 

Comfort is not the absence of something (pain/suffering). Comfort is the presence of something: God! The Bible changes our definition of the word. God doesn’t ask us to stop needing comfort. He asks us to run to Him as He provides it for us. 

We can endure the discomfort Jesus promises in this life because it has a meaning and purpose. What we can’t endure is having no meaning and no purpose. The idol of comfort (lazy or successful) provides no ultimate satisfaction. It leaves us empty. Belonging to God and sharing in His hope will provide everything we need to endure hardship well and say no to the idol of comfort. 

³ “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. ⁵ For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. ⁶ If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. ⁷ Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.” (2 Cor. 1:3-7)