Sufficiently Disturbed - The Threshold Few Are Willing To Cross

I’m going to be pretty vulnerable today.

What have you waited on so long to deal with, that you are finally moved to a pain that has become unbearable?

I mean really think about that. It’s a very personal question. What are you sufficiently disturbed about?

So disturbed, so done, so fed up, that you must do something about it, right now, starting today. That’s where I found myself this week.

And I want to talk about it, because I think this is one of the most honest things in our life that we could expose. It’s an honest evaluation our lives — and to our souls.

Seven years ago I had a big knee surgery. Snowboard crash. Not exactly a graceful story, but it’s mine. The surgeons told me before the procedure, “Tim, you know one day, it will be time for a knee replacement.” And they said “You’ll know when you need it.”

So I filed that away. Sure, sure. I’ll know. Well, today, I know that they were right. I know. The pain is there. It’s been building. And I’ve been doing what most of us do, managing it, compensating, finding ways around it, waiting.

Why do we wait so long? Why do we let something go until the pain is so bad that we finally decide to do something about it? That’s the question.

And it goes way beyond my knee. Okay, I’m going to be honest here. I’m going to say out loud what a lot of people are thinking quietly.

I’m not fat per se. But I can add belly fat and love handles. I gain it, lose it, gain it back - geez! My good friend Vic is actually writing a book called “The Last Ten Pounds.” That’s me, right there. That last ten pounds comes and goes like a bad cold.

And here’s the thing I said to myself this week that I’m almost embarrassed to admit - almost. I told myself, “I can hide the belly fat and love handles with the right shirt.”

Go ahead and laugh. But sit with that for a second. Because that right there, that instinct to cover it, hide it, manage the appearance - it’s one of the most universally human things we do.

Not just with belly fat. With everything. Depression. Anxiety. The social media photos that shows the happy you, while the real one is falling apart. The smile that camouflages the pain. The wrong relationship you know you should’ve left a long time ago. The hidden addiction nobody knows about.

Even the thing that weighs you down that you can’t diagnose. We are experts at finding the right shirt. And the tragedy is, most of us stay in hiding until the pain gets bad enough that we can’t hide anymore.

Until we become, and I’m using this phrase intentionally, “sufficiently disturbed.”

Jesus told a story about this exact moment. A young man takes his inheritance early, runs to a far country, blows everything, money, dignity, identity, and ends up feeding pigs in a field, starving.

Here’s the verse that gets me every time: “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food, and here I am, starving to death!’” (Luke 15:17 NCV).

When he came to his senses. That’s the sufficiently disturbed moment.

That’s the threshold. He didn’t go home because he had a great idea. He went home because the pain finally got loud enough to cut through the fuzzy stuff. The hunger got bad enough. The shame got heavy enough.

But here’s the cool thing. Actually, it’s an amazing moment. The second he turned, the Father was already running. That’s how God works …

But here’s the deeper issue. Sometimes we don’t just need to get uncomfortable enough to change our behavior. We need a completely new heart.

Because you can push through some things by sheer will. You can modify behavior for a while. But that’s not transformation.

GOD said this through the prophet Ezekiel, and it is one of the most incredible promises in all of Scripture:

“I will take out your stubborn heart and give you a new heart. I will take out the heart of stone and give you a heart that obeys me.” (Ezekiel 36:26 NCV).

A heart of stone doesn’t feel the pain properly. A heart of stone numbs, rationalizes, delays, hides. GOD doesn’t just want to get you moving. He wants to give you a new heart so that what was once a burden becomes a desire.

That’s not behavior modification. That’s resurrection.

Jesus said it plainly. And this is a gospel invitation as direct as it gets: “Come to me, all of you who are tired and have heavy loads, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28 NCV).

Tired, heavy loads, that’s the sufficiently disturbed person. That’s you hiding behind the right shirt, managing the pain, waiting one more season to deal with the thing you’ve known about for years.

Jesus doesn’t say, “Clean yourself up first.” He doesn’t say, “Figure it out and then come.” He says come. Come as you are. Come in the mess. Come with the belly fat and the love handles and the thing you can’t even name. Come.

Now here’s where I have to push this all the way. Because this even applies to Jesus Christ being LORD and SAVIOR of your life. Some of us have accepted Jesus as Savior. We’re fine with being rescued. We want the forgiveness, the heaven, the peace.

But LORD? Surrendering the whole thing? Giving up control? That’s a different conversation. That’s the threshold a lot of people are standing at right now and not crossing.

And I want to ask you honestly: have you become sufficiently disturbed about living life without fully surrendering to Christ as LORD?

Because the pain of a half-surrendered life is real. It’s quieter, maybe, and maybe you “think” nobody knows, but it’s there, the gnawing, the inconsistency. The gap between who you say you are and how you actually live.

You’ll know when it’s time. The surgeons were right about my knee. And GOD is right about your soul. He knows, but what about you?

So here’s where I want to land today. What are you sufficiently disturbed about?

Your knee? Maybe. Your belly fat and love handles? Possibly, me too. But what about your marriage? Your relationship with your kids? Your prayer life? The version of yourself you’ve been hiding behind the right shirt for years?

And for some of you, what about Christ? Not Christ as a concept. Not Christ as a cultural affiliation. Christ as LORD of your actual life. If you really want to know about Christ, just reach out to me - I’ll share it without judgement or stuffy religion.

The pain of staying where you are is trying to tell you something. The Father is already running. Why are you waiting? Why would you live one more day with the pain? You could start the new life now.

GOD, we hide well and mastered this art. Or think that we have. We want people to see us doing well. I’m done with those days. I want to live in honesty. You see it anyway. Help us to get sufficiently disturbed now. Don’t let us wait another day please. We want it to go away. We really do. Help me with my knee and my stupid love handles. Help me - us - do what we can not do on our own. IJNIP amen ♥️

(Me in the right shirt - trust me, it’s there 🙂)