3 Steps to Leaving Your Comfort Zone Behind.

[guestpost]This blog post was taken from a sermon I gave in 2009 at Life Church in Minneapolis, MN.[/guestpost]

I find it quite interesting how people really don’t like doing anything outside of their comfort zone. And now that we are living in deeper tumultuous times it is getting even harder for people to step out into the unknown. Have you ever ventured out into something you didn’t fully understand, or talk with someone you’ve never met? It is not comfortable at all, in-fact it is down right hard to do.

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There is one who came to give us a better understanding to know what it means to step out of our comfort zone. His name is Jesus Christ. He was and is and always will be God. He is omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent. For Jesus to give it all up and step into a place in which he’d never lived was a huge step out of the comfort zone. Our goal should not be to step back and stay comfortable but to be uncomfortable in our life.

Jesus gave us three steps to live better lives.

Become worthless to gain rank in God’s Kingdom 

Matthew 18:2-4 “…unless you… become like little children you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” 

Jesus wants us to live outside the realm of what seems good to us in order to succeed in life. His version and our version of success is very different.  We are called to become like little children. Does that mean we’re to live and act like them. No. But it means we’re to have the innocent mindset and heart of a child.

Here’s a good example of this. I was talking with a church parishioner a few years ago, and their 5 year old asked a very innocent and cute question. “If when people ask Jesus into their heart, does that mean there are millions of Jesus’ in the world?” This is what I mean about being innocent. Kids just have this understanding that seems to defy logic. But at the same time, we find it is very logical if we only take the time to think about it.

Be ruthless with our sin. Don’t cause others to stumble 

Matthew 18:6-9 “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” 

Because we’re human, we will always sin, cause others to sin, and even offend or hold offense at some point in our life. The question is, are we going to continually live life like that? Jesus said that if a hand or foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and still remain in his kingdom. In other words, Jesus is saying we are to have a NO TOLERANCE TO SIN attitude.

If we are not ruthless with our sin we will continue to abound in it, but if we take a hold of the sins and cut them off at the root, we will be living holier lives. If we want to be true witnesses for Christ, we cannot allow sin to affect our heart and dampen our witness for Christ.

George Verwer in his book, “Out of the Comfort Zone” said this…

“A godly, holy life of love and integrity, no matter what… is a powerful witness in itself. For many Christians… they understand that they should be witnesses… living godly lives… a tendency to think that other people are looking after this.” 

In order for us to be a powerful witness for Christ, we need to maintain that godly and holy lifestyle by being ruthless with our sin because if we don’t, we’ll be only living for ourselves and not the Kingdom of God.

Realize we have no control of our life because God left heaven to find us. 

Matthew [18:11]-14 “For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost… he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine…” 

I had to come to the realization that if we want to be proclaiming his good news to those around us we need to understand that God left his comfort zone to find us. Jesus had this understanding that people need someone to pull them out of the miry clay. We really don’t have any control over our life–because our lives are in the palm of God’s hands. He left heaven to give us new life, find us so that we can live being ruthless with our sin and our life for the sake of his kingdom.

We have a calling. (Eph. 4:1-6) That calling will take us out of our comfort zone–so that others may know him. When we become like little children in our spirit and soul (mind, will and emotions), we will have a better understanding in how to bring people the message God placed in our heart. We are called to walk worth of the calling in which we were called, but that calling will not fulfill itself – there has to be a walking it out, a stepping out of our comfort areas of life–taking a step into the unknown.

We will always have someone on our side, walking with us each day his name is the Holy Spirit. He will be our guide and comfort when we are living outside of our area of comfort. Remember, be like a child, be ruthless with sin and realize that we have a calling to fulfill. Why? Because God left heaven to find us therefore it’s up to us to bring that message to a world ready to hear what we have to say.

[reminder]What are you doing to step outside the comfort zone to proclaim the message on your heart?[/reminder]