Escaping the Confines of One’s Comfort Zone

“He’s (or she’s) in the zone.” Have you heard that before? Maybe you’ve even said it about yourself, that you’re totally focused on a particular project or task. “In the zone,” I’ve found, often is a good place to be. But there are many other kinds of zones – time zones, residential and commercial zones, no-fly zones, relationship zones. Even something we call “comfort zones.”

 

Most of us like our comfort zones. They’re familiar, predictable, safe. We can establish secure, clearly defined boundaries, manage expectations, and generally reap expected results. The risks of failure and disappointments can be kept at a minimum. So, what’s not to like about comfort zones?

 

For one thing, they can become tedious, even boring. They might cause us to settle for things easily within our reach. The routine of making the same widgets day after day might seem risk-free, but life and work should amount to more than making widgets. 

 

Another drawback of comfort zones is they might prevent us from experiencing – and enjoying – the unknown and untried. We might have no idea what we’re missing unless we attempt to discover what it could be. You can’t learn to swim unless you’re willing to jump into the pool.

 

But perhaps the greatest criticism of a life confined to a comfort zone is succinctly expressed by speaker, author and leadership coach, Tim Kight: “Nothing great ever happened in the comfort zone.” 

 

What if people like Thomas Edison and others had remained comfortable with gas lights, or even torches? Those provided illumination, but not the convenience, efficiency or safety of incandescent lights and lighting innovations that have followed. Brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright refused to be discouraged by naysayers who insisted, “Man will never fly”? If not for them, we might still be trying to cross country in trains – or even wagon trains.

 

We commonly think of peanuts as snacks removed from a shell, can or jar, or peanut butter (smooth or crunchy, your choice). But in the early 1900s, George Washington Carver, born into slavery, wanted nothing to do with any kind of comfort zone. Instead, he applied his genius to developing hundreds of products using peanuts, as well as sweet potatoes and soybeans. He also was a stalwart advocate of crop rotation and agricultural education. 

 

Being averse to comfort zones isn’t limited to those who answered the adage, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” Explorer Christopher Columbus gave vivid picture of the pitfalls that can result from remaining nestled in one’s comfort zone. He famously said, “You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.”

 

Long before that, however, people were learning the pros and cons of comfort-zone life. The Bible gives dozens of examples. There was Abram (later called Abraham), called by God to leave the friendly confines of Haran. The Lord instructed him, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing…all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:1-2).

 

That must have sounded like a wonderful promise, but God hadn’t told Abram where He was sending him, how long it would take to get there, or how this “great nation” would come about. Abram trusted the Lord, left the Haran comfort zone, and hit the road with his wife, Sarai, nephew Lot, their servants and possessions. Joseph, Daniel, Jesus’ disciples, even the apostle Paul responded in similar ways.

 

Among the strangest examples were the Israelites, freed after four centuries of bondage in Egypt. We might think people escaping inconceivably oppressive slavery would never look back, for even a second, but for them that wasn’t the case.

 

Wandering around the desert weeks after waving good-bye to captivity, the Israelites began to grumble to their leader, Moses: “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death” (Exodus 16:3). Even after God miraculously provided them with manna, quail, and water from a rock, they continued to favor hindsight over foresight, becoming shortsighted.

 

What does it take to step boldly out of one’s comfort zone to face the challenges of an uncertain but promising future? In a word, courage. 

Following the death of Moses, God selected Joshua to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. Recognizing the daunting task of guiding a rebellious people, the Lord gave Joshua these instructions:

”Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go…. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:6-9).

What great things might God have in store for you, if only you’re willing to step outside your own comfort zone? Like Joshua, be strong and courageous! 

Called to Pastor – Or Called to Pasture?

From time to time over the years, because I worked for parachurch ministries, I would hear from people believing they had been called to vocational ministry as well. “I’ve been called to preach,” they might say, or, “The Lord is calling me to be a pastor (or a missionary).”

Those are noble pursuits, without question. And if God is calling someone – perhaps you – to any role in vocational ministry, woe to you if you choose to ignore it. Look what happened to Jonah! If the Lord doesn’t provide a huge fish, He’s perfectly capable of using some other means for getting your attention.

But suppose you receive such a call. When He says, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” and like Isaiah you respond, “Here I am. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8), what if nothing happens? What if there you are, eager to go, but you have no guidance from God as to where to go, or when, or even why?

Sometimes, when folks are called to pastor, the Lord first chooses to send them to pasture. He wants them to marinate for a while, or to mature, so they’ll be ready and equipped for use when He needs them.

The Bible is filled with examples of this. There was Abram, who was promised that one day he would become “a great nation…. I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:2-3). Abram – whom God later renamed Abraham – was 75 years old when he was instructed to leave his familiar home in Haran; it wasn’t until 25 years later that he began to see this promise coming to fruition.

Then there was Joseph, Jacob’s son, who was sold into slavery by his brothers, then wrongfully accused and imprisoned by Potiphar. It was years later when Lord opened the door for him to become the most trusted advisor to Pharaoh. Ultimately, Joseph became God’s instrument for bringing the nation of Israel into Egypt where they multiplied and started becoming that great nation.

As an infant, Moses was spared another Pharaoh’s murderous wrath. As an adult, adopted into Pharaoh’s family, Moses interceded after he saw an Egyptian mercilessly beating a Hebrew slave. Realizing his act had been witnessed and realizing his life was suddenly in jeopardy, he fled to Midian. There he literally was put out to pasture, becoming a shepherd to his father-in-law’s sheep. He continued in that role, the Scriptures tell us, for 40 years before God appeared to him from a burning bush and gave him the orders to be His instrument for freeing the Israelites from 400 years of slavery.

Then there’s the apostle Paul, once known as zealous Saul who took delight in persecuting followers of Christ. After encountering Jesus on the road to Damascus, he was converted but again, God didn’t put him into ministry for years. Finally, Barnabas was sent to Tarsus to find Saul and essentially tell him, “Okay, the Lord says it’s time for you to get to work.”

The first time God guided me into vocational ministry, I wasn’t even discerning enough spiritually to realize it until I was offered a position. All I knew was that for about a year I remained in my newspaper job, waiting for the right door to open. The other two times I knew the Lord was leading me to a new assignment, but both times I had to wait more than a year before He made clear to me where He wanted me to go.

In truth, we all have a call from God to serve Him. It’s wherever we happen to be at the time. A couple weeks ago I talked with a banker on the West Coast who had thought he wanted to become a pastor, but the Lord made it clear that his ministry would be to his customers and colleagues at the bank. Today he’s having an impact on many people who would never venture into a church on their own.

Moral of the story: Even if you know you’re called to become a pastor (or some other type of vocational Christian service), don’t be dismayed if God first puts you out to pasture. In the meantime, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might”  (Ecclesiastes 9:10).