If you have been around Christian circles at all recently you will probably have heard mentioned the expression �Comfort Zone� � especially in connection with getting out of one! A lovely scriptural idea � well maybe not lol.
What people are trying to say when they talk about �comfort zones� is that in the western church we have all we need for a comfortable life, so we have become lazy in our reaching out to the more needy. We would rather give some money to charity and then assume our duty was done.
So the teaching runs along the lines of needing to get uncomfortable, to give of ourselves in a way that means we are reaching out to people we don�t feel at ease with. To going places where our comfortable western ideas can be challenged. To stepping out beyond what we think, we can manage and where we have to rely on God.
I guess in some ways, I applaud that sentiment, the idea of facing a real challenge, where we truly put ourselves on the line, to the point where we have to rely on the Lord to provide miracles; sort of being like a hero of faith. One of the things I never found very attractive about heroes though, is the number of them that ended up with posthumous honours! They tried to be heroes and ended up very dead!
For many of us we have turned to Christ out of desperation, because we had let our lives get in such a mess that we had no choice. Although we may be materially comfortable enough, to some extent we are emotionally wounded, and the �comfort zone� for us is actually a bit of refuge whilst we are healing. The last thing in the world we feel able to do is to reach out and be a hero!
In fact to reach out in this way, actually brings us further hurt, and means that we feel let down by the Lord. Getting out of our �comfort zones� is not a one size fits all solution. Indeed the way the Lord loves us isn�t a way that requires us to prove ourselves worthy of His love by pushing ourselves beyond what He is leading us to do. (Ephesians 2:8) For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith�and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.
Everyone can breathe a sigh of relief, we don�t have to get out of our �comfort zones� after all. Well that�s true for sure, but it doesn�t mean that we should end up getting all nice and cosy in our material comforts. We are the children of the Lord, whether we look like it or not, part of the nature He puts within us is to be warriors and heroes doing great spiritual deeds! (Ephesians 6:12) For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Wow � when we look at our spiritually flabby selves we think if we are going to be soldiers like that � then what is boot camp going to be like? Maybe it is after all where we get wrenched out of our �comfort zones�. It is indeed a place where the reliance on our own strength gets stripped away, and it is not pleasant having that happen (Hebrews 12:11) No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
So where does that leave us, we still feel injured, we need that �comfort zone� as a place of healing. Where it leaves us is � Under His Wings! The place we find comfort, the place we find healing is in Him. He doesn�t require us to just step out of our refuge in the things we have relied on, so we can be hurt and wounded again. What He provides is a place of refuge in Him.
(Psalm 91:1-4) He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."
Surely He will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
As He disciplines and strips away our reliance on the western comforts, or even as we find the strength to voluntarily let go of them, we don�t have to move out of a comfort zone, we are actually moving into the comfort zone � The arms of the beloved. He doesn�t want us stepping out in vulnerability, but in humility and His strength. Yes He is calling us to be heroes, but heroes whose strength comes not of ourselves, but from a true and deep knowledge that we are loved by Father God.
Yes, He requires not a stepping out of a comfort zone, but a total release of all our supports, all the crutches we use so we don�t have to trust Him completely. But the only reason He requires that, is so that we can truly know the real security that there is in Him. That He will never be unfaithful that He is the ultimate comfort zone. He also never deliberately hurts us in doing this � it is always totally in love
Some more scripture � well I like the Bible and I wouldn�t want you to think I was just saying this stuff without it coming from a reputable source
Psalm 91:14 "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
Ephesians 6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.
Hebrews 12:12-13 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. "Make level paths for your feet," so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.
Psalm 40:2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.
Matthew 7:24 Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
Re-reading the first part of this, I start to see that perhaps it was a bit brief, and I haven't mentioned any of the healing that He has graciously poured in, to enable me to feel strong enough in Him, to start letting go of my own personal comfort zones.
All I can really say is that He is faithful, and He is no spiritual tyrant, but gentle in all His ways with us. Whatever we face, when the storms of life come on us, when the enemy tries to break us and deceive us - He continually offers the comfort zone of resting in Him. If we choose to retreat to our old ones, we may find that we actually end up getting more hurt or hardened.
As we come into His comfort zone we find ourselves not in a place of hiding, but in a place of celebration and dancing with the creator of the universe. It may be a dance we are not used to, but we are dancing with the best dance teacher ever! (Zephaniah 3:16+)
Often in the dance we will find our feet not on what feels solid or comfortable. I know for myself when I first thought of hiding under His wings, being covered by His feathers - the concept I got was that I was on a precarious ledge but that He surrounded me and held me secure on the nest with His wings completely enfolding me. Since then I have taken a step forwards - and fallen off the ledge! (Isaiah 40)
The ledge was part of that security! But the truth is that it is as we are flying, as we exercise our own wings, as we step out in being imitators of Christ, that He flies above us. He is covering us with the shadow of His wings, protecting us from attack from the hawks above; watching over us continually, able at any moment to swoop and rescue us
He is also the Light of the world, the shadow of His wings is not a place where we are hidden from the life giving light of the sun, but rather protected from its harmful rays, we are constantly bathed in His light. (John 9:5)
There are more verses that this stuff comes from, His Word is so awesome like that - I guess it would be as it reflects the living God.