Yes, I admit that I watch “American Idol!” I heard the Lionel Richie say the quote, “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone!” I loved it and looked it up to see it was coined by Neale Donald Walsch, who is the author of the series Conversations with God. I ended my few week series on conflict by challenging you to use conflict to grow. I’m realizing that many of us don’t really want to grow because it takes us out of our “comfort zone!” Yes, our idol becomes COMFORT and when I talk about RADICAL CHANGES people often look at me as if I’m crazy, because change is usually the opposite of “comfort!” If there is any area in our lives where comfort zones can really have a negative effect on us, it is in our spiritual lives. Interestingly enough, our spiritual lives is the place where other people cannot see and we think no one is affected by our spirituality or lack of spirituality, because it is all an invisible process taking place deep inside our own souls. Instead of hiding in our comfort, God wants us to be a living sacrifice like described in the verse below.
Romans 12:1-2
A Living Sacrifice
12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
So, What… for This Week?
So how can we die and live at the same time? We need to get our of our own way (and our comfort) and be willing to die to self EVERY DAY! Our self is our biggest enemy standing between us and God’s purpose for our life. The first step to dying to self is to get tuned into the Holy Spirit by having a personal quiet time on a daily basis. That bridges the gap between “comfort” and God’s purpose for YOUR LIFE!