Beautiful Word: Your Daily Devotion

Daily Scriptural Insights, Curated by the Editors of CT | [View online]( [ChristianityToday.org]( [Beautiful Word Newsletter]( Monday, February 06, 2017 Finding True Comfort [Erin Straza]( Straza&db=true) Today’s Verse Powered by the [New Living Translation]( “For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me—the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!” Jeremiah 2:13 [View in context]( Detoxing is all the rage these days. People are detoxing from drugs, alcohol, social media, Diet Coke, gambling, sugar, digital devices, gluten, and holiday madness. Something about this life pushes us to self-soothe by over-using and over-indulging until unhealthy habits take over. Our hearts are ever seeking a comfort this world doesn’t seem to offer. We become obsessed with finding it . . . and with doing anything to keep it. A detox is needed if our hearts are to flourish as God intended. My obsession with maintaining comfort has been highly problematic. If it’s self-serving, emotionally easy, physically safe, or somehow personally beneficial, I’m there. Worldly comfort has become my default. Comfort addiction is a battle for all of us, a subtle yet powerful part of the human condition. It would be easy to blame our desire for comfort. If only we weren’t so needy, perhaps. But comfort isn’t the problem. God made us needy—created us to need him. He is the one our hearts truly need when we self-soothe with food, shopping, control, sex, isolation, and the like. Our God is not anti-comfort. Rather, he calls us to put off pseudo comforts—those empty cisterns the prophet Jeremiah spoke of—to make room for true comfort, flowing straight from God, our Comforter. Detoxing from empty substitutes retrains our brains, hearts, and wills so that we turn to God instead. Turning to the fountain of living water for comfort isn’t easy. I have lifelong habits to upend and autopilot decisions to reroute. Every time I turn to Jesus, however, his comfort is close at hand, and it never fails. Reflect: Read Jeremiah 2:13. How have you abandoned the fountain of living water and dug your own cisterns in your pursuit of what’s most comfortable? Pray: Confess your tendency to turn to false comforts. Express your gratitude for God’s forgiveness. Praise God for being your true Comforter. Erin Straza is the author of [Comfort Detox: Finding Freedom from Habits That Bind You]( (InterVarsity Press). Learn more at [ErinStraza.com](. Adapted from Comfort Detox by Erin Straza. Copyright © 2017 by Erin Straza. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press, P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426. [www.ivpress.com](. [Read devotions online]( | [Share with a friend](mailto:&subject=Christianity Today Women: Finding True Comfort&body= More for Women [Making Married Sex Mutual]( [Making Married Sex Mutual]( Pervasive ideologies distort our view of female sexuality. God's Word shows us a better way. Dorothy Littell Greco [6 Things Your Church Can Do During the Refugee Ban]( [6 Things Your Church Can Do During the Refugee Ban]( The recent executive order has thrust refugees and resettlement agencies into limbo. Here's how you can help. Dale Hanson Bourke Follow Us [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [RSS]( [Subscribe to this newsletter]( In the Current Issue [January/February]( [500 Years After Luther, We Still Feel the Pressure to Be Justified]([Subscriber access only] [Reading the Reformation in 2017]( [Ultrasounds Help Bridge Evangelical and Catholic Theology]([Subscriber access only] [View Full Issue]( [Subscribe Now]( Christian Bible Studies [1 Peter: Walk the Talk]( ) Transformation — the process of becoming holy — begins in your mind. 7 Session Bible Study [Beautiful Word]( Delivered via email to subscribers daily. [Subscribe]( | [Email Preferences]( | [Unsubscribe]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Advertise]( | [Subscribe to CT]( You are currently subscribed as: {EMAIL} Copyright ©2017 [ChristianityToday.org]( Christianity Today, 465 Gundersen Drive, Carol Stream, IL 60188. All rights reserved.