Outside the Comfort Zone

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did no regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form a bond-servant and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, the name which is above every name. (Phil. 2: 5-9, NASB)

Too often when we are challenged by our life in Christ, we want to stay will within our comfort zones. We don’t meet challenges because we don’t want to move away from what we already know we can do and feel confident about. We want to serve, but we don't want to give up anything in doing it. This doesn’t make us bad people, just weak Christians.

Paul reminded the Philippians they needed to be more like Christ Himself in this respect. Think of the Christ’s comfort zone. He was equal to God in every way. He lived in a splendor we can scarcely imagine. And yet, when God’s will and our need called for it, He willingly gave it all up – for us. To give up equality with God to become a man with all the human frailties we ourselves endure isn’t just stepping out of the comfort zone; it is leaving it behind completely.

The truth is that no one can really serve God without leaving the comfort zone. Think of Abram, living in the comfort of Terah in Ur of the Chaldeans. God called him to pick up all his belongings and his family and go to a place God would show him. Abram had no idea where God would lead him, but he went. God promised him that he would be the father of a great nation. But to claim God's promises, Abram had to leave his home and all he was familiar with. After Abram stepped out of his comfort zone, God renamed him Abraham and blessed him exactly as He promised.

Think of Moses. When God called him to lead the Jews out of Egypt, Moses had more excuses than a Viet Nam era draft dodger. But in the end, he obeyed, left his comfort zone, and became the gold standard for the Jews of Jesus day.

Think of David. He had to leave his comfortable and familiar life as a shepherd to follow God’s will. Yet God made him the greatest king in the history of Israel. David obeyed because he was a man “after God’s own heart”. He had the attitude that was in Christ Jesus even before he was aware there was a Christ Jesus.

Popular Christian culture has made most of us aware of the NIV translation of Jeremiah 29:11 - "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." The words are God’s reminder to the Jews that He was punishing them for their own good, but they also have a very real application in the context of comfort zones.

The Jews had gathered prophets who were lying to them, saying they were not going to have to give up much for long. God’s reality was to put them into captivity for seventy years - a lifetime. God's promise and the hope of a future for the Jews forced them well outside any comfort zone they had previously known. Of course, had they left their comfort zone on their own and obeyed God in the first place, none of that would have happened.

This is the way of it, then. To gain the promises that God holds for us, we have to be willing to step outside the zone of comfort, knowledge, familiarity, and sometimes happiness. God will always lead us into uncharted territory, not because He wants us confused and miserable, but because He sees where we need to be. And if our attitude is that of Christ Jesus, we will go without looking back.