It’s easy to get comfortable in life with things that are less than God’s best. We know there’s more in us, but we don’t want to have to stretch or take the risk that it might not work out. We can get comfortable with friends who are pulling us down, with addictions, with self-pity, always thinking about what we didn’t get and how we’re at a disadvantage. The problem with staying comfortable is that you will miss your destiny. When God is about to take you higher, you always have to make the choice: comfort or calling? Are you going to stay in the comfort of where you are, not having to stretch, to be more disciplined, to push past your fears? Or are you going to step out in faith and take a risk?
In John 5, Jesus approached a disabled man who was lying beside the pool of Bethesda and asked him, “Do you want to get well?” It seemed like an odd question—all of the many blind, lame, and paralyzed people gathered around that pool were there in hopes of being healed. But you can be at the right place in the wrong frame of mind and miss your miracle. Jesus knew that after years of coming to the pool and being disappointed, the man had gotten comfortable in his dysfunction, that he had lost his passion to be well. Rather than saying, “Yes, that’s what I’m believing for,” he made excuses and tried to justify his condition.
But Jesus didn’t say, “It’s too bad that you’re at a disadvantage.” Rather, He said, “Rise, pick up your bed and walk.” Jesus asked him to do what he couldn’t do. The man could have said, “That’s impossible. I haven’t walked in thirty-eight years.” But this man heard the call and had to decide: “Am I going to stay in my dysfunction where I’m comfortable with my friends, or am I going to act on Jesus’ calling and try what I’ve never done?” Something rose up in him, and against all odds, a sudden strength came into his legs and he was instantly healed.
As with this man, God is going to ask you to do things that you don’t think you can do. In your own ability, you can’t, but when you take that step of faith, God will step in and give you supernatural ability. That’s because there’s favor in your calling. In your calling, you’ll break addictions, beat the cancer, and defeat the depression. But if you get stuck in what is comfortable, there’ll be lack, dysfunction, and mediocrity. God is saying to you, “I’m calling you up higher, into abundance, into freedom. I’m calling you into new levels.”
Thanks for reading Joel Osteen Sermon Today: Take That Step of Faith
