Somewhere along the way, we started believing that if something feels uncomfortable, it must not be from God. If it confronts us, exposes us, stretches us, or requires repentance, we assume it’s too harsh to be holy. We call conviction confusion. We label resistance as wisdom. And slowly, we build a theology that treats comfort as confirmation. But we see time and time again throughout the bible that God did not call people into comfortable situations. 

Galatians 5:22-23 gives us a clear list of fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Comfort isn’t there. Not because God is unkind, but because comfort was never meant to lead us. Fruit grows through pressure, not ease. Peace is not the same as comfort. Joy is not the absence of pain.

Jesus is honest with us from the beginning. “In this world you will have trouble,” He says in John 16:33. Not might. Will. Yet in the same breath, He tells us to take heart, not because life will be easy, but because He has overcome it. The promise isn’t comfort, it’s victory over situations that are uncomfortable. Throughout scripture, obedience disrupts lives. Abraham leaves everything familiar. Moses confronts what terrifies him. Esther risks her life. The prophets are rejected. The disciples abandon security. Jesus walks towards the cross fully aware of the cost. 

In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prays words that dismantle our comfort based faith. “My father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). If comfort were proof of God’s favor, the cross would have been avoided. But redemption required surrender, not relief. The goal has always been transformation, not preservation. 

Hebrews 12 tells us that God disciplines those He loves. Discipline is not punishment, it is training. “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace” (Hebrews 12:11). The peace comes after the pain has done its work. We want peace first, but God promises it in the end. 

And here’s where things get uncomfortable in a different way. 

Because while God uses discomfort to move us forward, the enemy often uses comfort to keep us stuck. Satan doesn’t always need chaos to destroy us. Sometimes all he needs is convenience. Sin thrives in comfort. When there’s no pressure to change, no urgency to repent, no immediate consequences, sin feels manageable, justifiable even. We call it “coping.” We rename it “self care.” We soften the language so we don’t have to confront reality. 

Scripture tells us that the enemy is a deceiver, the father of lies. He doesn’t always tempt us with obvious evil. Often, he offers us something far more dangerous, a version of life where we can stay exactly as we are and feel absolutely nothing. Comfort dulls conviction. 

Paul writes in Romans 2:4 that God’s kindness leads us to repentance. But when repentance is delayed long enough, hearts begin to harden. What once felt wrong starts to feel normal. What once caused discomfort becomes familiar. And eventually, sin stops interrupting peace, not because it’s harmless, but because the Spirit has learned you’re not ready to listen. 

This is why repentance feels gross to the flesh. Turning a different direction always requires discomfort. Admitting sin means letting go of control, image, justification, and pride. It means choosing truth over ease. Jesus says in John 3:19-20 that people love darkness instead of light because their deeds are evil, and they avoid the light for fear their works will be exposed. Exposure is uncomfortable. Light disrupts. And that disruption is exactly what leads to healing. 

But when someone chooses comfort over conviction long enough, they may begin to resent the very things God uses to call them back. Accountability feels like an attack. Truth feels like judgement. Boundaries feel like control. And sometimes, the most uncomfortable truth, not all discomfort is injustice, some of it is conviction. That can be hard to receive. Because there is a difference between suffering caused by obedience and suffering caused by sin. Both hurt. But only one leads to life. Proverbs 14:12 tells us, “There is a way that appears right, but in the end it leads to death.” Comfort can look like peace when it’s actually avoidance. Silence can look like rest when it’s actually distance from God. Temporary relief can feel like freedom when it’s really just delay. 

And yet, even here, God remains faithful. Because conviction itself is grace. The ache or uneasiness that follows sin, the unrest that refuses to go away, the dissatisfaction that lingers even when everything looks fine, those are not signs of God’s absence. They are evidence of His pursuit. The Spirit convicts because He loves. He disrupts because He desires restoration. 

Psalm 32 describes the weight of unconfessed sin, the way it dries the soul, and then the release that comes with repentance. Freedom doesn’t come from staying comfortable, it comes from coming clean. For the one who repents, discomfort becomes a doorway. For the one who resists, comfort becomes a cage. 

And for those of you who are watching from a distance, someone in your life who refuses to turn, it can feel absolutely devastating. Confusing and deeply painful. Because when someone chooses to stay comfortable in sin, others often carry the cost and consequences of that sin. But here is what scripture assures us, God does not confuse compromise with peace, and he does abandon those who walk in truth. “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted,” Psalm 34:18 says. Close, not distant. Near, not indifferent. He is especially near to those who choose obedience when it costs them something they love. 

So if you are uncomfortable right now, if obedience has brought loss instead of relief, that does not mean you are outside of God’s will. It may mean you are standing firmly inside it. Discomfort in God’s hands is never wasted. It produces fruit. It refines faith. It reveals what cannot come with us into the next season. Comfort will come and go. Sin may feel soothing for a moment. But only truth can truly lead. And the Spirit does not grow fruit in soil of avoidance, He grows it where hearts are willing to be broken open, turned around, and made new. 

• S. W.