Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone

By: Elaine Muniak

While out evangelizing on the square recently, we had a Christian out there with us who was somewhat new to the evangelism scene. He talked about getting up and singing a hymn and then thought perhaps he might try reading Scripture. I assured him that he could do whatever he was comfortable with. One of our fellow evangelists heard this and encouraged him not to merely do what he was comfortable with but to push himself to step outside of his comfort zone. This person’s words have stayed with me all week and I would just like to extend some thought on the subject as I have been encouraged myself by these words.

So often when we feel motivated to step out in faith for God, we can try and do so on our own terms (note: I can be very guilty of this). We tell God, “Okay, Lord. I’ll do it, but only this much.” We do just enough to be technically obedient while still holding onto our comfort as much as possible. We like to “stick our toe in the water” for God before “submerging in the water”. I had to ask myself, “Is this biblical??” What does Scripture say about hesitating to be obedient or being partially obedient? Let’s look to the Bible and find out.

Let’s first look at an example of immediate obedience to God which in one instance can be found in the book of Genesis.  God told Abraham to offer his son Isaac and Abraham did not hesitate to be obedient to this. He immediately went with his son up on the mountain to offer him as a sacrifice (See Genesis 22). This was a defining moment for Abraham as it showed his faith and devotion to God.

Now let’s look at a great example of partial obedience. It can be seen in the Old Testament with King Saul. We see God command him to destroy all of a people and their livestock and Saul withholds a portion. He even tries to justify part of it by claiming that the animals were kept as a sacrifice to the Lord. Samuel responds in 1 Samuel 15:22 by saying, "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.” (ESV) We also see him performing an offering after waiting for Samuel to arrive for a week. He takes matters into his own hands and justifying it by arguing that technically he had waited the appropriate time (although Samuel is seen showing up immediately after the sacrifice). Ultimately, God removed Saul as king over Israel after these actions had taken place.

One instance of hesitation that comes to mind for me is Lot’s wife. We see in Genesis that God sent two angels to command Lot to grab his family and leave Sodom for the place was going to be destroyed. As his family was leaving the city, the wife disobeyed the command of the angels by looking back to the city and she was turned into a pillar of salt. In my opinion, this act shows hesitation to do what God wanted her to do. We also see the man in the New Testament requesting to bury his father before he follows Jesus. We see this man basically telling Jesus “I’ll be obedient, but just let me take care of one thing first.” Jesus responds pointedly and says, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:60, ESV).

We see several examples of people responding to God’s commands. We can tell through these examples and others that God wants us to be completely obedient. He does not desire hesitation or partial obedience on our part as this shows a lack of full devotion to Him. When we hesitate, we are saying, “There is something I feel may be more important than You” or “I don’t know if I love You enough to go that far, Lord”. When we are partially obedient we show God that we are still trying to do things our way, with as little sacrifice as possible. This shows a serious heart problem and we must repent and be willing to submit fully to the authority of our Creator.

Am I saying that those who have taken baby steps out of their comfort zone are unsaved? NO! It is not my desire to condemn anyone but to encourage everyone who has been guilty of this to surrender to God’s will and trust Him completely. He will not forsake you and you can rest in that promise when you are afraid to do what He has called you to do.

To those who do not have this issue but perhaps knows someone who does, I would like to encourage you to support them to step out in complete faith in spite of their fears. Pray with them. Give them words of encouragement. Push them to go further than is comfortable.

Stepping out of my comfort zone

**On a personal note, I would just like to add that this article has been as much for me as it will be for the readers. I can often be guilty of taking baby steps out of my comfort zone so as to ease the discomfort. Writing this article and thinking upon these things has challenged me to go deeper than that and to wholly lean on the Lord in these situations. I pray it will do the same for you as well.