2004-02-20 - Comfort Zones

Encore from 1998-05-15

(Mat 8:19-22 NNAS) Then a scribe came and said to Him, "Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go." ²⁰ Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." ²¹ Another of the disciples said to Him, "Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father." ²² But Jesus said to him, "Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead."

Sometimes we Christians -- particularly North American ones, I believe -- seem to have the idea that we are guaranteed comfort and peace. We insulate ourselves in our safe worlds, when we may be needed out in some uncomfortable places.

For sure, not all of us are called to be missionaries in poor Third-world countries. But God may be asking us to step out of our comfort zones to reach people for the Kingdom. Perhaps the homeless people in a downtown clinic need our kind words or our smile - they don't get many of either. Maybe a young fatherless child in a "rough" neighborhood -- the kind we often drive around to avoid -- needs our tutoring and role modeling. There might be a lonely AIDS patient who could use an ear or just a human touch. Perhaps there is a ministry at our church that we don't think of ourselves as capable of (Who, me-teach?!), but in which God wants to use us.

I challenge you to think of how God has gifted you, and then to pray for Him to show you who He wants to minister to with those gifts. I am going to do it, myself! I would love to hear about it, if you do this, thanks!

Dear Lord please help us to remember that Christ sought your Kingdom and not His own comfort. Help us to follow in His footsteps. In Jesus' name amen.

Jan

 jan@cfdevotionals.org
http://www.cfdevotionals.org