Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone to be Used by God

Our tendency as humans is to stay as close to our comfort zones as possible. No matter how outgoing or extraverted you are, there’s a level of comfort that you always resort to. In our world today the cultural thing to do is usually not the same as the God thing to do. As I walk around on my college campus, so many people walk around with headphones in or looking at their phones, and rarely look up to notice the people around them. Even at the grocery store, how often do you talk to someone that you don’t know? (Probably never, if you have that tendency like I do.) When do we ever do things that are counter-cultural, that are different from the norm, that cause us to look different than everyone else around us?

Living an ordinary life inside of your comfort zone won’t get you very far in life, in a Godly sense. You may go to church every week, read your bible every now and then, and sing worship songs, but do you think that’s all God has for you? Do you think he just wants us to live ordinary lives, like everyone else around us, making no real impact for the kingdom of God? I think not! If the only way that you are living out your Christian life is doing things that help only you feel better about yourself and be a better person, you have it all wrong. If you are never willing to get outside of your comfort zone to do the work God calls us to do, you will never be living out your full potential in Him and will never see the amazing things that he is willing and able to do through you.

The life that God calls us to live is not a life that abides by our cultural norms. God wants us to be willing to go and do whatever he wants us to do, no matter how different it may be than what we would typically do. When you are truly satisfied in God and have a heart that longs to serve him, this becomes a little easier to do. I don’t want to say it becomes completely easier, because it definitely doesn’t. We are still sinful no matter how close to God we become, and we will always have a tendency to run the other way when God calls us to do something. But, when you are close to God and can hear him speaking to you, he gives you the peace and the strength you need to do whatever it is he is calling you to do.

I challenge you to be intentional in your walk with the Lord today. Don’t be so caught up in yourself and your life that you fail to realize the needs around you and they ways that God may be calling you to reach those needs. Don’t simply do the normal Christian things and keep it to yourself and go on with your normal daily life. Seek God and see how he is wanting you to use what he is teaching you to advance his kingdom.

Maybe it’s to talking to the person beside you at the coffee shop that looks like they’re having a bad day. Maybe it’s seeking out someone younger at your church that needs to be discipled. Maybe it’s going on a mission trip and seeing the needs of the world beyond all of our comfort in America.

Whatever it is for you, be willing to do it. If God is calling you to do something, he is going to give you everything you need to do it. Satan will try to tell you the opposite, that you aren’t capable or that people will think differently about you, but let me tell you - don’t buy into his lies. He is just seeking to destroy you life and to keep you from doing the amazing things that God wants to do through you.

Be confident, be bold. God is going to use you to do amazing things!

“And he said to them, Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” Mark 16:15