Ivory Towers: The Danger of Getting Too Comfortable

We are incredibly blessed in America. Sure, it’s not perfect – no place is perfect – but the protections, opportunities, and spirit are decidedly distinctive and special. Even the poorest of the poor here have privileges not afforded to others in so many other parts of the world. Should we value our freedoms and blessings here? Should we consider them to be good things? I think so. But there are also reasons to approach these blessings with some caution, as we seek to follow Scripture’s instruction: “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23).

We all long and strive for comfort. So much of our lives are spent seeking safety, security, and rest. Just turn on the television and notice all the commercials – they are all trying to promise and sell you at least one of these things! These strivings are natural, because we weren’t created to live in a broken world where it’s so difficult to acquire these things. Even if we do, they do not last. The deepest parts of our soul long for something that we once had but lost. The problem comes when we start thinking that we can, and should, do something to regain them.

Some do this by obtaining vast amounts of knowledge. Others, vast amounts of wealth. Others may pour themselves into service or defending causes. None of this is inherently wrong, but it can become dangerous when we use these things to attempt to establish a new identity that sets us on a kind of high ground, away from the dust and dirt of struggle and uncertainty. When we live in these relatively secure places of comfort, it’s easy to start believing that we are “gods” – that we need nothing apart from ourselves. And that our mission in life is to remain in this state of security and blessing.

From these ivory towers, we may begin developing theoretical solutions to the world’s problems – solutions that are manufactured in our own fallen minds and put into action by our own weak and sin-cursed hands. We live in a bubble of deception, thinking that we have power to do what we could never do, knowledge to fix what we do not fully understand. We start to think we know it all. And we let everyone know it! But it’s humanistic, and therefore, unrealistic and presumptuous…dangerous…to think that we can do what only God can do.

We are not the answer for peace and security in the world. Only He is. But it’s hard looking up to Him when we are already (albeit only in our own minds) at the top.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ requires us to face reality – the dirt and grime of sin. Like the serpent cursed to crawl on its belly, we, too, have to experience the serious judgment and humiliation that sin brings. This is why, after Adam and Eve sinned, they immediately felt the effects. They covered themselves to avoid exposing their nakedness – the void of glory, now that they were separated from God. Bringing forth life from the ground and the womb would be so much harder. And life would only be temporary; it would all return to dust. There was no escaping to an ivory tower for this couple; they became brutally awakened to the rebellion they harbored in their hearts. They were expelled from Paradise and forced to face the desolate and dangerous wilderness.

Ironically, it’s the wilderness where we can finally discover peace and security, because we stop looking inside, and around, for answers – and we start looking up. Humility and faith are the gateways to salvation, and after salvation, they remain our lifelines for sanctification, assurance, strength, and connection to the wisdom and heart of God.

It’s just like the compassionate and gracious God to find us in the wilderness and show us the way back. But it has to be His way.

In His most tangible expression of grace, God sent Jesus Christ from the paradise of Heaven to this corrupted world full of sin, transgression, stubbornness, idolatry, hatred, sickness, and dying. It’s a place where many have hardened their hearts, and continue to do so, to His message of repentance. This rejection is what led to His crucifixion. And He knew it would. Yet He came anyway. He submitted Himself to death, because it was through His death that the debt of sin would be paid and eternal life would be made possible.

Though He was God, Jesus “made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death on the cross (Philippians 2:7-8). Jesus set the example of how we are to live, also, as His followers. Because of what He has done for us, and has shown us, here is how we are to treat one another: “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3-4).

And: “Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life…” (Philippians 2:14-16).

These commandments cannot be followed from an “ivory tower”. They require being humble and involved in the everyday affairs of this life and the lives of those around us. How can we truly know the state of the world, or of people’s hearts, without going to where they are? “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14).

If you, like me, have gotten a little too comfortable in your proverbial ivory towers lately, let’s make an effort to put boots on the ground – as messy and dirty as it might be: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!” (Romans 10:15). You will no doubt discover a new depth to your own relationship with the Lord as you tell others about Him.

The clear message of repentance and salvation might just break through to someone and change their eternal destiny. It’s worth the sacrifice. Jesus showed us that.