Good Morning! It's Thursday!
Comfort Zone - a place or situation where one feels safe or at ease and without stress
Obedience - compliance with an order, request, or law or submission to another's authority
Which do you choose?
I've thought, talked, written, pondered, embraced, loved and yes, hated my comfort zone. I've loved it because it's safe. I've hated it because it's confining. The juxtaposition is quite odd. I've lately had many arguments with my comfort zone. Especially since my world is so different. Having another, a partner, a lifemate actually was quite handy when it came to my comfort zone. When you're with someone for a long, long time like I was, there is a melding of comfort zones, his and mine. They get to know each other, compromise with each other and eventually, not always but ours did, become one. Gone were the days when one would say to the other, "Come on, let's do this!". No longer any pressure to do something I was simply uncomfortable doing or didn't want to do. So two comfort zones become one and life and existence didn't challenge me to step out. My partner knew and respected my limits. Disclaimer: Not all marriages role this way. I only have my story to tell.
Obedience on the other hand seems simple, right? You have a law, you obey it. Your boss instructs you, you do it. You visit you doctor and dentist because you've been told it's necessary for good health. Obedience in the world is laid out pretty simply.....here are the rules, follow them. The world doesn't say you HAVE to bungee jump, or climb the tallest mountain, or take a 12 hour flight somewhere. Fear creeps in, anxiety threathens your peace and you simply say, "No, I'm not doing that". Do things happen in the world where there is no choice? Of course. Having a brain tumor, losing a spouse.....was I comfortable? No, of course not. If I could have chosen....of course I would have said, "absolutely not".
As a Christ follower, the comfort zone and obedience are in direct oppostition. Take this scripture passage:
"If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you." John 15:19
I'm called to be different even if the world HATES me. Talk about stepping out of your comfort zone. WOW!
Can you imagine being asked to sacrifice your only son? The son you prayed for, waited for, the son you desired well into your old age? Abraham was asked to do just this.
"Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and got go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about." Genesis 22:2
And herein lies the difference between my comfort zone and obedience. My comfort zone is determined by me. Obedience is determined by God. There is nothing in the story that says Abraham argued with God. Now in my human thoughts I'm sure he was in agony....how can this be? Why God? God tells us, in his word, every detail we need to know. If it's not there, we can allow our human brain to try and interpret, look between the lines, add emotion and our personal feelings, but that doesn't mean it's correct. This particular story has a pretty good ending. God provided the sacrifice, Isaac did not die. God never intended for Isaac to die. What he wanted was Abraham's obedience. Abraham's story is not unlike many, many others in God's word.
There comes a time in the life of a believer, please don't ask me to explain it, only a sovereign God can, when the indwelling Holy Spirit sparks the obedience fire deep in your soul. And the desire to be obedient far outweighs the desire to stay in your comfort zone. You might ask why one would subject themselves to doing things they simply don't want to do....or maybe you think you're not capable of what you're being asked to do. God, I don't have the skills for that. Public speaking? Are you kidding me? Being a leader? What? Changing careers? Now? At my age? Insert whatever......Can you choose to say no? Of course. But God's word says he knows the plans he has for us, not to harm us but to give us a hope and a future. He saw our unformed body, he knew us before we were born, he created our inmost being, he knit us together in our mother's womb. Do I believe it? Do I believe my Savior, my Lord, knows better for me than I could ever choose for myself? At this point in my journey on earth, YES! Did I always? No. What that doesn't mean is a glorious riding into the sunset. It's doesn't mean life will be rainbows and butterflies. God will call us out of things we LOVE. He may call you away from people you LOVE. He may call you to scary places......places out of that well worn comfort zone. Is it earth shattering? Like selling everything you own, leaving your family and becoming a missionary in a desolete corner of the world? No. But often times, when we can't see the plan, when there is no list 1. 2. 3., we (I) lose confidence. Can God work in and through the fears and anxiety and create something beautiful? YES, he can and I BELIEVE it.
When I lost my beloved and then retired I could not longer find any excuses to say no to my loving God. I needed only to look back and examine from where I had come. In dark times he sustained me. He kept my foot from slipping and set it on a firm foundation. I can't look back over the last six years, having LIVED in his provision, and say, "thanks for all you did God but I'll take it from here." And I find myself, like Abraham, desiring to be obedient rather than following my own very narrow path.
I am watching my comfort zone (fortress) slowing breaking down brick by brick. I'm finally seeing strongholds being demolished and in the process I'm realizing a few very life changing thoughts:
1. The strongholds I've built are heavy and burdensome. The comfort zone I've built is actually not a comfort zone at all. It's actually a means by which I think I can protect myself. That's why it was built in the first place. There's a huge difference between saying, "I don't want to fly because it scares me" and "I'm not going to voice my opinion because people may not like me".
2. The realization that if I stay in my fortress God cannot use me. That actually breaks my heart. I WANT to be a vessel.
3. I don't use the word "hate" very often but that fortress, I HATE it! I HATE the reasons I built it! And I've finally realized that until I'm willing to allow God to tear it down I am of very little use to the kingdom. The two, my fortress and my service to the kingdom CANNOT co-exist.
And finally.....
I don't need to supply my needs. God already promises to do just that.
"And my God WILL meet ALL your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus" Phil 4:19
That's a PROMISE!
Oh how far I have fallen in my own thinking and oh how far I have come by the grace of God.
Have a beautiful day. Be the hands and feet of Jesus.