Saturday, June 27, 2009

In The Zone

God calls us to change. No question about it. When you find Christ, God immediately begins ridding you of the things that don't resemble the qualities of Christ.

If you let Him.

I was eager to give Him my anger, my pride, my jealousy.....all of the things that would make my life 'easier' if they would go away. Who wants to be angry or prideful or jealous? All of those things lead to bigger, uglier things in our lives. They are obvious stumbling blocks.

BUT....what about when God wants to do something in our lives that makes us uncomfortable? What about when the change isn't something that 'appears' to be hurting us? What about when He calls us to reach out to somebody that we just aren't comfortable reaching out to? Somebody who is maybe a little different than ourselves. Somebody who 'rubs' us the wrong way? What do we do when that somebody wants to infiltrate our little circle of friends? Do we embrace them with the Love that Christ has shown us? Do we extend that Grace even when we know we may have to spend time with someone who makes us uncomfortable? It pains me to say that more often than not.....I don't.

As Christians, we are all about living the 'Great Commission':

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations......"
Matthew 28:18

We love to go to faraway places and help those who are less fortunate. We offer food to the hungry, money to the poor, and wells to the thirsty. We adopt children from other countries and bring them to America or send money, monthly, to children who already have parents, but live in a place where they will never have anything. Every single one of those acts pleases Christ when done with a right heart. And....every single one of those acts makes us feel good. But....what about when God calls us to spend time with that person whose personality just doesn't 'mesh' with ours? Are we still willing to be so obedient when living the 'Great Commission' doesn't feel so good?

Jesus hung out with a lot of people during His time on earth. There were so many different personalities around Him constantly! Even His disciples, who all loved Him and wanted to follow Him, all had different personalities. No wonder He frequently went off by Himself and prayed. Notice the Bible doesn't have all of Jesus' prayers in it? I have always thought it was because of the intimacy of those prayers between the Father and the Son. But..now I'm beginning to wonder if Jesus was praying something like:

'Father, I know you placed Judas in my life because He is part of Your plan, too....
BUT he is sooooo greedy. It's all about him. He only cares about money and frankly
I just don't think he gets what being a follower of mine is all about!!!'

I know that the One who calls me to be more like Him, would never ask me to do something He hasn't already done. He asks me to extend Grace to those He puts in my path, despite the personality differences, because He extends it to me. He calls me to love those that are hard for me to love because He loves them. He calls me out of my comfort zone because He gave up the Throne of Heaven to dwell among us. His entire life, here on earth, was 'out of His comfort zone'.

I have been convicted. He beckons me to reach out. Not just to a lost world, a hungry child, or a homeless man/woman, but to my brothers and sisters in Christ who may look and act a little different than me. Those who may make me a little uncomfortable because God had the audacity to gift them with a personality unlike my own.

Thank you, Lord for making each one of us unique. Help me learn to step outside my 'circle of friends', embrace differences, and most of all.........make my comfort zone....uncomfortable!!!!!!!!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love you so much my daughter, what a beautiful person you are. Thank you for the blog that really has me thinking and knowing I have always really liked my comfort zone. God gives me challenges all the time and you do to with this blog that reminds me of one of my many faults.

Heather said...

Thanks mom:)
I love you to the moon and back!!

Susan said...

Very thought provoking. We have been doing a couples Bible study at our house for the last couple of months and I have one of those people in our study. I have become closer to God throught his in asking Him to show me my faults and not theirs. He is so good and He vreated us ALL IN HIS IMAGE, not just all of our close friends IN HIS IMAGE. Great post.

Also I had been praying for God to make us uncomfortable and I thought he was going to move us someplace else. But after reading this I think He has made us uncomfortable right where we are. Love ya and thanks for letting the Spirit lead you. This post has truly ministered to my heart.
Susan

Heather said...

So glad Susan!

I woke up the other morning and this was SO heavy on my heart. I have not 'felt' like blogging in forever, but felt VERY lead to blog first thing that morning.

Glad it ministered to you sister.

Miss you. Would love to catch up sometime. Let me know when you have time.

Love ya!

Tanya Ross said...

Oh my, this is something that I have been facing so much lately. I wonder some times why certain people come to ministries and then I make them issues in my life. Thank you so much for that reminder. I guess David was right, sand paper people smoothing out my rough edges. Love ya.

Nana C said...

ok heather, you have hit the home run, with the bases loaded! This post is awesome, getting out of your comfort zone, telling me to continue to let God heal a wound that I am struggling with also. Thank you for your love of our Father and yes, He is healing us all, to reach out to those, those precious souls whom He loves. Nana C