Good morning, and welcome to Starting Our Day Together—just a few minutes to get our minds, our hearts, and our lives moving in the right direction.

This morning, I want to talk about something we spend a lot of energy trying to avoid.

Being uncomfortable.

We live in a time when you often hear people say, “That makes me uncomfortable.”

A conversation makes us uncomfortable.

A person who is different from us makes us uncomfortable.

Talking about race makes us uncomfortable.

Talking about injustice makes us uncomfortable.

Talking about our history makes us uncomfortable.

Sometimes even hearing the truth makes us uncomfortable.

And somewhere along the way, we began to believe that being uncomfortable means something must be wrong.

But what if discomfort isn’t always the problem?

What if sometimes discomfort is the teacher?

Discomfort Can Be a Warning From the Conscience

Think about your physical body.

Pain is uncomfortable, but pain serves a purpose.

If you touch something hot, the discomfort tells you to move your hand.

If something hurts inside your body, the pain tells you that something needs attention.

The conscience can work in much the same way.

Sometimes we become uncomfortable because something inside us is being challenged.

Maybe it’s an assumption we’ve held for years.

Maybe it’s something we were taught about another group of people.

Maybe it’s a part of our history that we would rather not discuss.

Maybe it’s a truth about ourselves that we don’t want to face.

And instead of asking, “Why does this make me uncomfortable?” we sometimes decide, “Whatever makes me uncomfortable needs to go away.”

But those are two very different responses.

One leads to reflection.

The other leads to avoidance.

An Uncomfortable History Still Has Something to Teach Us

Every nation has parts of its history that are painful.

America certainly does.

Slavery is uncomfortable.

Racial segregation is uncomfortable.

Lynching is uncomfortable.

Discrimination is uncomfortable.

The mistreatment of Native peoples is uncomfortable.

The denial of rights and opportunities to various groups of people is uncomfortable.

But the purpose of remembering those things is not simply to make people living today feel guilty.

The purpose of remembering history is to keep history from becoming our future.

We don’t study mistakes because we enjoy the pain.

We study mistakes because we want the wisdom.

When a society decides that its history is too uncomfortable to discuss, it runs the risk of forgetting why certain changes became necessary in the first place.

Memory can be painful.

But forgetting can be dangerous.

Different People Are Not the Problem

There is another kind of discomfort we need to examine.

Sometimes we say, “That person makes me uncomfortable.”

But perhaps we should stop and ask: What exactly about that person makes me uncomfortable?

Is it something they have actually done?

Or is it because they look different from me?

Speak differently?

Come from another culture?

Have experiences I don’t understand?

See the world from a perspective I have never considered?

Sometimes the person standing in front of us is not the source of our discomfort.

They are simply revealing something already inside us.

That realization can be uncomfortable.

But it can also be the beginning of growth.

Scripture Does Not Promise Us a Comfortable Truth

The Bible gives us an interesting picture:

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword…” – Hebrews 4:12, ESV

Think about that description.

A sword is not a pillow.

God’s Word doesn’t merely comfort us. Sometimes it cuts us.

It exposes motives.

It challenges attitudes.

It confronts sin.

It corrects thinking.

It forces us to look at ourselves.

That’s uncomfortable.

And yet Scripture tells us:

“Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.” – Proverbs 27:6, ESV

In other words, something can hurt us and still help us.

And something can make us feel good while actually harming us.

Comfort, therefore, cannot be our measurement for truth.

Jesus Made People Uncomfortable

When you read the Gospels, Jesus frequently made people uncomfortable.

He made religious leaders uncomfortable.

He made powerful people uncomfortable.

Sometimes He even made His own disciples uncomfortable.

Why?

Because Jesus confronted what people wanted to leave unexamined.

He challenged hypocrisy.

He crossed social boundaries.

He talked to people others avoided.

He exposed prejudice.

He confronted pride.

He demanded forgiveness.

He required people to examine themselves before condemning someone else.

Jesus wasn’t cruel.

But neither was He controlled by everyone’s desire to remain comfortable.

And perhaps that is something we need to recover.

Love does not require us to avoid every uncomfortable conversation.

Sometimes love requires us to have one.

There Is a Difference Between Discomfort and Harm

Now, we should make an important distinction.

Not every uncomfortable situation is good.

Abuse is not something we should simply endure.

Harassment should not be excused.

Threats should not be ignored.

Cruelty should not be tolerated.

But we must learn to distinguish between being harmed and being challenged.

They are not the same thing.

If every challenge to my beliefs becomes an attack…

If every disagreement becomes disrespect…

If every difficult historical fact becomes an accusation…

If every person who is different becomes a threat…

then eventually I build a world where the only voices I hear are voices that already agree with me.

And that may be comfortable.

But it is not necessarily healthy.

Discomfort Can Keep Us Straight

Sometimes discomfort keeps us straight.

A guilty conscience can keep us from repeating a wrong.

An uncomfortable history can keep a nation from repeating an injustice.

An uncomfortable conversation can help repair a relationship.

An uncomfortable truth can expose a blind spot.

An encounter with someone different from us can reveal assumptions we didn’t even know we carried.

So perhaps our goal should not be to eliminate discomfort.

Perhaps our goal should be to develop the wisdom to ask:

“What is this discomfort trying to teach me?”

Something to Carry With You Today

As you go through your day, you’re probably going to encounter something or somebody that makes you uncomfortable.

Before you immediately reject it, avoid it, silence it, or walk away from it, ask yourself three questions:

Why am I uncomfortable?

Is something actually wrong—or is something in me being challenged?

Is there something here that I need to learn?

Because sometimes the things that disturb our comfort are the very things God uses to develop our character.

We don’t need a society where people deliberately make one another miserable.

We need a society mature enough to understand that peace and comfort are not always the same thing.

Sometimes peace comes only after we have confronted an uncomfortable truth.

Sometimes reconciliation comes only after an uncomfortable conversation.

Sometimes wisdom comes only after remembering an uncomfortable history.

And sometimes becoming a better person requires seeing something in ourselves that we would rather not see.

So today, don’t go looking for discomfort.

But don’t automatically run from it either.

Listen to it.

Examine it.

Pray about it.

Learn from it.

And when necessary, allow it to change you.

Because a world determined never to feel uncomfortable may eventually become a world incapable of correcting itself.

And history has already taught us how dangerous that can be.

This is Starting Our Day Together. And here’s our thought for the morning:

“Discomfort is not always something to escape. Sometimes it is something to examine because what makes us uncomfortable today may keep us from repeating the mistakes of yesterday.”

Have a thoughtful day, have a compassionate day, and above all, have a blessed day.