We all have certain roles we are comfortable fulfilling and situations in which we find ourselves at ease. On the other hand, some tasks may call for skills we are still developing and other circumstances may push the limits of our past experience.
There is nothing wrong with having a “comfort zone.” But it is foolish for us to set these boundaries in stone. Jesus often calls us to exceed the limits of our comfort zone. He calls us to multiply our talents and move on to higher ground in our service. He calls us to be courageous in the face of opposition and persevere in the face of affliction. He calls us to reevaluate the status quo and explore more effective ways to accomplish His will and work in our lives.
Consider a few examples: God called Moses to exceed his comfort zone in returning to Egypt and demanding that Pharaoh release his Israelite slaves. Moses was an 80 year old man that had spent half of his life running from his past in Egypt and now God was calling him to return. And he was called to stand up to the most powerful man on earth! Talk about nerve racking!
We could look at the apostles in the New Testament. Simple fishermen like Peter, Andrew, James, and John were called to leave behind their nets to become fishers of men. These men who had no public speaking experience or formal training were commanded to go city to city, house to house, preaching the message of the kingdom. They were assured that they would often be rejected and persecuted. Read the suffering experienced by the apostle Paul in 2 Cor 11:23-28 and then ask yourself what the Christian’s attitude should be toward his “comfort zone.”
Consider Jesus’ call to Peter in Acts 10. How comfortable do you think a devout Jew would have been entering into a house full of Gentiles and having fellowship with them? God had to repeat His message 3 times in a vision before Peter could be convinced to tear down the barriers of his comfort zone. God had work for him to do and Peter could not allow the standards of his past experience to get in the way. The boundaries of Peter’s comfort zone had to be moved to fit the boundaries of God’s will.
Jesus’ call to us today is not substantially different. Following Jesus means denying ourselves (Matt 16:24) and that will often require us to do things we are not entirely comfortable with. We must not hide from the work that needs to be done in God’s kingdom. We must not resign to the current limits of our ability. We must not be content with the status quo.
When our own prejudices are putting up boundaries that God has not set, we must have the honesty to change. When more effective methods can be employed to accomplish God’s work, we must have the courage to use them. We must allow God to train our comfort zone to conform to His will more each day.