9/28/25 The god of Our Generation

2:25 so a number of years ago i uh read this book i've talked about it before but uh in it it talks about this uh this shinto japanese concept of misogi so the idea came out of the shinto religion that is you would do this if you wanted to like be purified you would go into like a frozen river or freezing river or like frozen like ocean that kind of situation and you'd go in one way and the idea is you'd be so enter into this discomfort to such a degree that you would emerged change, like the idea, right? The idea is that you do this difficult thing and it purifies you somehow. So that's the Shinto idea. In the West, we got a hold of that. And in the West, people kind of changed it. And they made it into like any kind of like physical or emotional or even like mental challenge. So the author of this book, he said that he and four of his friends, one of their masogis was, they went to the Pacific coast and they would dive down and pick up a rock that was really heavy, and they would walk on the ocean floor for five miles.

3:25 So one guy would dive down, pick up the rock, walk as far as he could, then ran out of breath, swim to the top. Next guy, swim down, and they went for five miles, carried this rock on the bottom of the ocean for five miles. It's a really difficult thing. Other misogies could be something like, you know, I want to run a marathon or run an ultra marathon or climb like a 14 or that kind of situation. It could be something like a digital detox. Like for the next month, I'm not going to look at the screen. Or for the next month, I'm going to stay off the internet. Some people have misogies where, I'm going to take a cold plunge every day for the next thousand days. That kind of idea. Actually, I knew a guy. I have a friend who his misogi was, he fasted, literally fasted, no food for 40 days. He just had water and supplements. That was all he had. And he said he got hungry around day 30. But it was one of those challenges, one of those challenging misogis. A misogi you could have next week is you could say, okay, this upcoming Saturday, I want to walk 30 miles. So there are only two rules for a misogi.

4:18 And the first rule is you can only have, like 50% chance of succeeding. So it can't be something that you're just guaranteed to do. So if you're a marathon runner, your masogi is not going to be a marathon because you have a pretty good chance of succeeding. But if you're not one, then maybe that could be your masogi. 50% chance of succeeding. The second one is you can't die. So those are the two rules for masogi. Big chance of failure, but not that bad failure, right? That's the, that's the concept. It comes to this idea comes from the book, The Comfort Crisis by a man named Michael Easter. So the thesis of the book is this, that our modern obsession with convenience and comfort has made all of us weaker, less resilient, less happy, and unfulfilled. That we become so preoccupied with being comfortable that it has wreaked havoc on us. And so he gives some examples. He says our obsession with being in comfortable temperatures, like basically for the most of us, we live our lives right around 72 degrees all of the time. He says that that does something to us. It actually, it's ruined our body's adaptability to temperature as well as our caloric burning ability. Not only that, but we have this easy access to hyper-processed, like super tasty but really calorically dense food coupled with almost constant automated travel. Meaning what? It means we have as much food as we possibly want and we can take a car everywhere. Or we take an escalator or we take an elevator or our food comes to us. We're no longer hunter and gatherers. We're like, you know, centers of DoorDash. Food comes to us. And so what happens is here, our expense of being constantly comfortable is that over 80% of Americans don't get enough physical activity.

5:59 In fact, he did a thing where the average American walks an average of 4,800 steps a day, which is less than half than the worldwide average. We also eat about 500 calories per day more than Americans did in 1970. And the result is that obesity is at record highs and the chronic related illnesses is astronomical. One of my favorite quotes of the whole book was not only about like lack of movement, not only about like what kind of food and what we're at, but about boredom. He said this, it says this, it says, finally on June 29th, 2007, boredom was declared dead because that was the day the iPhone was introduced. And so we have this situation, right? We have endless streaming capabilities. We have endless scrolling. We can constantly fill our minds, our eyes, our ears with as much of someone else's creativity as possible. And here's the problem.

6:52 The problem is that robs us of boredom. And boredom is essential for creativity. Boredom is essential for problem solving. In fact, boredom is essential for self-reflection. If we don't have it, studies show that people who can't tolerate boredom are more prone to anxiety. They're more prone to impulsive behavior. They're more prone to decision. poor decision making. We're not bored anymore because we're too comfortable. The last thing he highlights is that we're so obsessed with comfort that we can live our lives without ever taking any real risk or ever facing any real challenges. In the book it highlights research linking reduced childhood outdoor play and risk-taking with increased adult anxiety. That when people don't face challenges early on they become less confident and more fearful as they age. And this thought, right, this reality is so pervasive. This captivity we have to comfort. We're captives of comfort. There's a man, his name is Matthew Chandler. Matthew Chandler said this phrase and it just, so powerful. He said this, he said, comfort has become the God of our generation.

7:59 The comfort has become the God of our generation. And I've shared that idea, I've shared that sentence with so many people over the last couple weeks and it's one of those situations where 100% of the time that I share that phrase, comfort has become the God of our generation, that everyone I've talked to affirms it. And here's how they affirm it. I say the sentence, comfort has become the God of our generation. People go, uh, because they're looking at themselves and saying, oh my gosh, that is me. Why? Because how much of our lives we say, I just want to be comfortable. Not a big deal. I just want to be comfortable. I'm bothered by every and each convenience. this is taking so long the microwave delivery to my door taking so long or i'm freezing when i'm mildly chilled we say i'm starving my my older sister she has her kids when their kids would ever say mom i'm starving she would say when did you last eat if it was today or yesterday you're not starving you're just hungry but that's what we say right we have this idea that i have to be every moment that I'm uncomfortable is a moment that's unbearable.

9:04 Think about the desire we have to escape. I don't like what I'm thinking right now. I don't like what I'm feeling right now. So I'm just going to put something on in the background. I'm just going to put the AirPods in and just kind of tune out. Why? Because I just want to be comfortable. And here's the problem is this. Sometimes people have made that. Sometimes we've made that the goal of our whole life. Not just the goal of this moment.

9:25 We've talked to people like this and they say, you know what? I don't care where I live. I just want to be comfortable. I don't need to make a lot of money. I just want to be comfortable. I don't care what my job is. I just want to be comfortable. And this is the crazy thing. I don't just want this now. I want this because it's become the entire purpose I exist. And paradoxically, because of so much comfort, we're experiencing negative effects and we end up underliving our lives. If comfort is my goal, I will end up underliving my life. and comfort has become the God of our generation.

10:02 And yet, at the same time, we know that's nothing new. I mean, everyone wants to be... Look at the first reading. First reading from the book of the prophet Amos. See if this sounds familiar to us. Here's Amos preaching to the people in Zion, the people in Israel. He says this. Woe to the complacent in Zion, lying upon beds of ivory. I don't know if they just have, like, wooden beds. it's not even like nice wood. Imagine having a bed made of ivory. That's like over the top. It goes on to say, stretch comfortably on their couches. This is us. Get home, just flop down, start scrolling. It goes on to say, they eat lambs from the flock and calves from the stall. I'm there eating veal. Kobe beef is on the menu every single day. Improvising. Music on the harp. Jazz. Sign of comfort. Jazz. There it is. It says, they drink wine from bowls. I don't know if you noticed this.

10:54 what are they using to drink wine not like cups not glasses bowls the largest receptacle i have that's how i'm going to drink my wine lastly he says they anoint themselves with not just okay oil they anoint themselves with the best of oil here's the thing this might comfort might be the god of our generation but it is it's been around for a while we can ask that question where does that come from? Like, where does it come from, this desire to make comfort an idol, I think, comes all the way back to the beginning. We know this in the book of Genesis. When God makes us, he makes us for three things. He makes us for love, he makes us for labor, and he makes us for leisure. And leisure is part of that comfort, right? But we know that with the fall, all three of those things that we're made for get distorted. We're made for love, but we vacillate back and forth between the desire to use other people or the desire to be indifferent to other people, right? The desire to get what I can out of someone else or the desire to just kind of ignore them completely. This is the rich man in Lazarus. When it comes to labor, we know we vacillate between this. Either labor is toil, it's just drudgery, it's what I have to do, or labor is what gives me my identity. My work gives me my worth. And lastly, leisure. This is us. Leisure is either collapse, right? You get a break on a Friday night. You get a break for a weekend. It's just like walk into the room, fall flat on your face on your bed. Or it's time to stop and I can't stop. It's time to take a break. Time to have leisure. And I can't stop. I can't stop eating. I can't stop drinking. I can't stop binging. I can't stop scrolling. I can't stop thinking about work. I can't stop. This is us.

12:37 I can't stop consuming. Remember, that's why idol has become the god of our generation. Because we don't make gods out of bad things. Comfort's a good thing. We make gods out of good things that we treat like ultimate things. If you're wondering if comfort's one of your gods, we say, a god is what? A god is what I love the most. A god is what I serve the most. A god is what I build my life around. And if I say, I just want to be comfortable, comfort may become my god. our God is what we fear losing the most. So we can see, hopefully we can see, that how comfort has become the God of our generation. And at the same time, comfort is a good, right? This is not a demonization of comfort. Because we know the opposite, right? We know that deprivation can often lead to desperation. Like just not having stuff. Deprivation can lead to desperation.

13:29 I was listening to a historian. He was talking about how horrible the Great Depression was. Like he said, he said, we can't even now really fathom the impact the Great Depression made on the lives of so many Americans. He said his dad told him about how he signed up for the Air Force during World War II. And he said in the Air Force, they had to take benzadrine in order to stay awake. This is kind of like a amphetamine to keep them awake on these 16-hour bombing missions. And then they'd have to take sleeping pills in order to get to sleep because benzadrine was so powerful. Then they would have sinus infections but have to go up to 30,000 feet and their eardrums would blow out. And they were told before they went on these missions not to wear parachutes because if the plane went down, the Japanese would behead them on sight.

14:13 And he said, Dad, why'd you volunteer for the Air Force? And his dad said, well, compared to the Depression, it wasn't that bad. We know this. He said when he joined the Air Force, it was the first time in his life that he'd ever had steak and ice cream. We know, right? We don't treat deprivation as if it's just the best. deprivation can often lead to desperation. We also know this, comfort can lead to complacency. One of my favorite psalms is Psalm 30, and in it, it's a prayer, and the prayer is, God, give me neither riches nor poverty, but give me neither comfort nor deprivation, but give me only my daily bread. Why? Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, who is the Lord? Then in my comfort, I might become complacent, or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God. My deprivation can lead to desperation.

15:11 But you guys, we're not made for either of those things. We're made to live a full life, and too many of us are underliving our lives. So Michael Easter, in this book, he talks about a thing called toughening. Because he says this, the theory is this, that being completely overwhelmed by negative stressful environments is not great. Let's put that out there. Being completely overwhelmed and ground down by stressful environments is not the goal. On the other hand, being totally sheltered is not optimal either. There should be some amount of stress that gives us the optimum physical and psychological well-being. So they did this study at Stanford where they studied squirrel monkeys. And what they did was as they're raising these squirrel monkeys, one week out of every 10 weeks, they took a couple of them away from the rest of their group, away from their families. And they had to survive one week, every 10 weeks away from their families. As they grew up, they said this, when the monkeys grew up, they were significantly more resilient and capable in the real world than their sheltered siblings.

16:08 That they became the leaders, they became the doers, and this is what God wants for you. God wants us to be the people who are capable. Us who cease to underlive our lives. But even more powerfully than this, if comfort is our God we end up missing God if comfort is our God we end up missing the whole point of our lives why because the goal is not deprivation the goal is not suffering the goal is not discomfort the goal is God God himself the obstacle is our captivity to comfort our unwillingness to be uncomfortable once again this is not the message is pursue discomfort the message is this, pursue God's will and have absolutely no fear of the uncomfortable.

16:59 But if we're bound by the idol of comfort, we will never be able to love. If you and I have to be comfortable, if comfort is our God, we'll never be able to love. Why? Because we know that ever since the fall, once again, ever since the fall, love always involves sacrifice. That every time we truly love anyone or anything, it involves sacrifice.

17:24 I will never be able to love God with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength if I refuse to be uncomfortable. I'll never be able to love anyone close or far from me if I'm afraid of being uncomfortable. Why? Because love always involves sacrifice. But here's the thing. Not arbitrary sacrifice. Well, you might call it intrinsic sacrifice. So, Arbitrary Sacrifice. I watched this movie back in, like, high school. It was a dark comedy. I always thought it starred Bill Paxton, but Chachi B.T. told me it stars Matthew Broderick. Anyways, it's about the character. The male character is in love with Meg Ryan's character, and she does not like him, but he's obsessed with her. And at one point, they're at this dinner. He's looking at her, and he says, how much do I love you? He says, holds up his hand, he says, do I love you enough to break my own finger? And then he breaks his finger at the dinner table. Again, it's a dark comedy. and he's like, see, that's love. I remember seeing that as a kid going, that's crazy.

18:19 And then I remember, I thought, how is that different than the cross? Because that's what, I don't know if you've ever heard that saying. I asked Jesus, how much do you love me? And he said, stretched out his arms, he said this much and died on the cross. I'm like, okay, is that Jesus saying, how much do I love you? Let me break my own finger. And the answer is no. Why? Because the guy at the table in the movie, that's arbitrary. I'll put myself through pain to try to demonstrate love. Here's the reality. In the cross, Jesus didn't pursue the cross. He pursued us.

18:51 And the way to get to your heart was by way of the cross. The point wasn't suffering. The point was you. It just so happened that the price of loving you, the price of loving me is the cross. I was talking with a young woman recently she said both of her her parents have a pretty significant illness even though she lives relatively close to them she said some days it's so hard to go over to their house I don't know if you ever had that experience where there's people in your life you're like I know I need to go see them but it's just so hard to do it but love involves sacrifice she said even though I I love them to make that choice to become uncomfortable to embrace discomfort to drive over to their house, to walk in their door, to see them in their weakness, to see them in their illness. She's like, it's difficult to do, but it's worth doing.

19:45 Why? Because that's love. I don't know if you've ever had that experience where there was something you knew you had to do, and when you did it, you're like, okay, that was hard to do, but I'm glad I did it. say it was hard to love them but I'm glad I chose to love them the alternative is what the alternative is the gospel today the rich man who just walks by Lazarus it could have cost him very very little but he wasn't willing to part with his God of comfort so what do we do here's the last thing what do we do like how do we if this is if it's true that comfort is the god of our generation how do we destroy that god i say we do this we do what we do what christians have done in every generation and it's basically you would call it a catholic masogi but really what it is is just a simple word called mortification mortification it's my fancy word it's if you know latin or if you know spanish morir like to die to kill i mean mortification is you simply put something in yourself to death.

20:50 So there's two kinds of mortification. There's active mortification and passive mortification. Active mortification, it's like a masogi. Basically that sense of like, okay, I am bound by the idol of comfort. I'm bound by the idol, the God of comfort. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna make myself intentionally uncomfortable. I'm gonna fast a little bit. It could be something as simple as, you know what, I'm gonna keep eating the same food I eat because I need to nourish myself. But when it comes to drinking, I'm just gonna drink water. That'll be my little fast. Or it could be like, I'm giving up coffee. Or how about this? Like this person who says, I'm going to give up putting sweetener in my coffee. That'd be my little fast. And then you learn what coffee's supposed to taste like. Or it could be something like this. I'm going to skip a meal. You know, you'll survive if you skip two meals back to back. No big deal. You know, demonstrate something to yourself. Demonstrate to yourself like, wait a second. I can be uncomfortable and still be me. I can be uncomfortable and put to death the idol of comfort. Or maybe a media fast. For the next week, I'm not going to look at my screens.

21:44 Or next week, I'm going to delete Instagram, Facebook, whatever your social media of choice. It doesn't matter what it is. Just something where you realize I can be uncomfortable and still live and I can put that God of comfort to death. That's active mortification. Passive mortifications are more powerful. Active mortifications are the ones you choose. Passive mortifications are the ones that choose you. It's the idea of the inconveniences. If an active mortification is what I'm going to do is I'm going to leave on time and show up on time. That's my new mortification.

22:18 A passive mortification might be, I'm going to stay calm when people are late. I'm going to stay calm and offered up when someone's driving in the left lane on I-35 and going slower than they should. A passive mortification is that sense of, okay, I'm cold. No big deal. I can handle the cold. Or I'm hot. No big deal. I can handle the heat. I'm thirsty. No big deal. I can handle my thirst. Passive mortification is just receiving the discomfort that comes to you knowing that if I embrace this, it will put the idol of comfort to death. because too many of us are afraid to pursue God's will because it'll make us uncomfortable and so what ends up we end up doing is we dread discomfort but if we embrace it if we're willing to pursue God's will with no fear of the difficulty then not only will we have freedom not only will we have God Not only will we be able to live God's will, but the moment we do it, we'll stop under