"If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end. If you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth; only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair."
- C.S. Lewis (Mere Christianity)
What I would give to write like this man did. Lewis also says in his book that if one were to look for a religion for the purpose of comfort, then Christianity is not the place to look. I agree with him.
It's not that there is no comfort in God; quite the contrary, passages like Matthew 11:28-30 and Psalms 9:9-10 quite clearly demonstrate that God is our refuge and our place of rest, and is the one who bestows true peace into our hearts. However, if the kind of comfort that you're looking for means you do nothing and you feel good about everything, then you will have a very difficult time looking for it.
God wants us to live in truth. To live in truth, we must understand the truth, and to even begin to understand the truth, we must turn around and face all the lies we've weaved intricately into the fabric of our life. We must begin to slowly pull them out one by one, and in their place sew in the power of the Word. This process is far from easy, but it is necessary.
Only with the truth can we truly be comforted. And this kind of comfort isn't a bubblegum version of the truth; it is a true peace, a real spiritual rest that puts everything into perspective and at the same time strengthens us. And how can we not be comforted by the truth that God loves us? How can we not be comforted if we truly understand that He knows what's best? As everything seems to crumble and the world loses sight of what's right and wrong, how can we not be comforted by fixing our eyes on eternity?
Well, that's just what I think.
Also, if you have me for Secret Santa, I'm thinking I want this book for Christmas:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Screwtape_Letters
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