The words leaped off the page at me. An Amazon reviewer, in discussing my book "From Comfort Zone to Trust Zone" and how comfort zones can bog us down, wrote "But as life shows, the comfort zone eventually turns into a swamp, which makes us energetic slaves of stability."
Let that roll around in your head for a moment. Energetic slaves of stability. What could that mean?
First, let's take the last three words. Slaves of stability means that we are so dedicated to keeping things stable, staying in our comfort zones, resisting change, that we become slaves to that stability. As I wrote in the book, I believe Jesus is always challenging us to leave our comfort zones for his trust zone, where we take risks for the kingdom of God while serving him.
The first word in the writer's phrase relates to our topic of fear and faith gaps. Where does the energy in "energetic" come from? What drives us to expend tremendous energy in retaining stability, working so hard to keep things the same? It has to be fear. And where there is fear, there is a faith gap.
If we don't trust that God will take care of us, if we don't trust Jesus's urging for us to leave comfort zones for something new, then we have a faith gap. We fill that gap with fearful actions, trying to manage things ourselves, leaning into the comfort we desire.
As I've said many times, comfort zones aren't always bad. We can be very productive in our comfort zones. However, when we receive the nudge or the call to go beyond our comfort zones, we can resist mightily - energetically. God has something new in mind, but we don't want to be a part of it.
Join me in reviewing the areas where we decide on stability and comfort and old ways, resisting what we suspect must be a Spirit call to regenerate and revive. Let us look deeply at ourselves, at both the overt and the subtle ways that we shy away from change, at the ways that we, in effect, say "no" to God because we are fearful. Let us resolve to listen more closely to the Spirit's call, to take a deep breath, and to say "yes" when the moment comes.
If you're serious about this review, you'll get a lot out of "From Comfort Zone to Trust Zone." The book takes you through a dozen Bible stories in which Jesus challenges people to leave their comfort zones to follow him, in one way or another. Then I map the meaning to our lives today. Please find the book (and video series) on CecilTaylorMinistries.com, and the book at fine online booksellers everywhere.
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