For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.
1 Timothy 1:7
Last week I talked about spring, about new life being breathed into us, and about making time for the things that make you come alive. This week I want to talk about what happens when we don’t push past old comfort zones and stay stuck in our old limitations.
In keeping with the spring theme, think about what would happen if those little buds didn’t push past their old limitations for new growth? The tree wouldn’t grow. It may even start to die. What would that look like in terms of our faith if we did that?
The story of Jonah comes to mind when I think about this. God wanted Jonah to go to Nineveh. But Nineveh was not a nice city and Jonah did not want to go. Instead of traveling towards Nineveh, he decided he would travel in the exact opposite direction. You most likely have heard the story—Jonah heads the opposite way, God sends a storm, Jonah tells the crew to throw him overboard to settle the storm, they finally do, the storm calms, and Jonah, upon landing in the water, is swallowed by a big fish where he rocks around inside the fish’s stomach for three days and three nights until the large fish vomits him up on shore. Finding himself alive, Jonah makes his way to Nineveh!
Now I have had things I haven’t wanted to do in this life—things that I have wanted to avoid and run away from. But, as my mother always said, it’s usually much better to just get it over with. I think Jonah would have agreed with my mother in hindsight. Pushing past old limitations and outside of our comfort zones are difficult endeavors. It gets uncomfortable—and I hate being uncomfortable. One of the best pieces of advice I ever received came early on in my career when I was told to “Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.” This is true in our faith as well.
Unfortunately it seems to be one of the laws of this world that growth only comes from being uncomfortable. The first time we boldly witness to a stranger—uncomfortable! The first time we offer to help a stranger—uncomfortable! But what do we feel if we don’t push back our comfort zone when God calls us? My guess is oftentimes we end up like Jonah; crammed into a small uncomfortable space, feeling like we are in the dark, and wishing we would have just done the thing we had worked so desperately to avoid.
I definitely still have times when I shy away from doing something that makes me uncomfortable. I’m sure you do too. My hope is that we can encourage one another in our faith, and ask God to help take some of the scariness out of the unknown and discomfort. Who knows what will come of it—maybe our small actions will one day impact a city, maybe even our city.
P.S. If you have a friend who might enjoy this post please share~ doing so will help them and me too!
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