The Bible says that Jesus came for the poor, the weak, the needy, the submitted and the man who is willing to give up control of his life.

But I grew up in a country that has taught me the exact opposite. America says that I am supposed to make sure I am not poor, not broken, not needy, in charge and in control of everything in my life. I am supposed to make a lot of money and and build up a trust fund so that I don't have to rely on anyone else.

So that's what this blog is about... it's about the hope of a community working through the balance of self and selflessness. It's about a Lexus or a Honda... faith or control... 401K or giving... God or the American dream? It's about honesty... it's about you reading this and thinking about it... responding and figuring this life out with me. So please join me by clicking the follow button right below my picture...

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Get OUT of your comfort zone!

I am so proud of my wife because recently she made a difficult decision and chose to get out of her comfort zone and be real with some friends about Jesus Christ. Getting out of our comfort zones for Jesus is probably the most important demonstration of our faith that we can do here on earth. I know that I live in my comfort zone wayyyy too much and that is something I am trying to change. That's another reason I started this blog... it's not always comfortable to talk about Jesus especially when I know that there are probably some people who will read this and wonder why I got weird. But I don't care about that anymore... I'm living for God's approval, not for the approval of man.

I wanna talk for a minute about the importance of getting out of my comfort zone. Two verses in the Bible that state pretty clearly the role that I am to play in this world are these:

Matthew 22:39 states, "Love your neighbor as yourself."

Matthew 28:19 states, "Go and make disciples of all the nations."

These two verses might not say it directly, but basically they are shouting at me to be different and step out of my individual bubble and live to make a difference in others lives.... have enough guts to step out of my comfort zone and love others who aren't easy to love, and share Jesus with others when it's not easy to do so. Is this always going to be easy? No! Am I going to encounter fear, resistance and animosity? YES! But that's ok because God promises me my reward if I live for Him.

So this brings me back to my wife and how proud I am of her for being a true follower of Christ and a true friend. Recently, she felt very convicted that she had never directly shared her faith with some of her old friends, so she took a tough step and decided to share Jesus with them. She was very frank with them... told them about Jesus dying for their sins... the existence of  heaven and hell and that she truly believes only those who have a relationship with Jesus will be in heaven. Is this hard to tell friends? Yes. It is true? Absolutely! Well some of them were kind of offended by it and felt judged. So now my wife is heart broken because they don't understand that she told them that out of LOVE and DUTY! So if you read this, I ask that you will pray for Tonya... that she will keep going strong. Because one day those girls will appreciate the courage it took for her to share the TRUTH with them... I just hope that day is in this lifetime.

So guys let's start living out of our comfort zones. Let's start being real and taking steps to change others lives. Let's talk about Truth instead of the weather. Let's invite others to church or small group rather than the big game. Let's stop caring so much about what others think of us... that is my biggest assignment for myself now... Stop caring so much what others think about me and getting the hell out of my comfort zone!
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2 comments:

  1. ZacheriAugust 16, 2010 at 5:33 AM

    This is good stuff. I think corporate worship and small groups and stuff can be very important, but one thing I never want to do is be COMFORTABLE just attending Sunday morning service and have lunch with a group of friends afterwards and then going about my week as if I filled my God quota for the week. That is domesticating(taming) my faith and my calling to be Jesus to the people around me. Where is the challenge in that?

    When I read or listen to speakers who talk about Christian people doing radical things for the kingdom (Bob Goff, Shane Claiborne, etc) I can't help but be inspired and I think it's because, as Christians, we all long to be radical for Jesus, we just have to let it out, put self aside and put Jesus in front. "If the people around us say they don't see God, that's our fault" Radical giving, radical love, and radical compassion are what makes us different from the world, not COMFORTABLE giving, COMFORTABLE love, or COMFORTABLE compassion.

    That is awesome what Tonya did. She has more courage than I do in that area. I am still working on the "old friends talk". Way to go Tonya.

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  2. AnonymousAugust 16, 2010 at 9:40 PM

    Props to Tonya, bro. It's so weird right now. We live in a culture that says "Be yourself. Just don't be different." Really we're called to live like Jesus. Which will make us look very different, yet with a common theme. I needed that challenge.

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