Comfort Zone

Posted on February 26, 2010 by valerie

“I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.”

John 10:11

King James Version

Jesus, our Shepherd, gave His life for us. What have we given for Him? Our precious Saviour left the comforts of His home and His Father to come to earth and die for us. The most amazing thing to me is that He knew He was going to be killed but He came anyway. What kind of love is this? This is an unselfish, forgiving and unconditional love.

We aren’t even willing to get out of our comfort zones to serve Him. We don’t want to shut off the television and use that time to tell people who are hurting and lonely about His love for them. I heard someone make this statement several years ago “I work hard during the day and I deserve to relax and watch television all night if I want to watch it”.

When God lays something on our heart to do, are we obedient to do it? Many years ago, when I was going door to door on visitation I asked this lady “If you knew that God was telling you to sell your home and give the money to missions, would you do it”? She didn’t hesitate. She said “Absolutely not! I’ve worked hard for my home and it’s mine”. How that must have hurt Him!

Jesus allowed Himself to be crucified on a cross of horror and excruciating pain. He was beaten beyond recognition, tortured, spat upon, cursed, mocked and humiliated for you. I believe with all of my heart that He didn’t die because of the physical pain that He endured. I believe He died of a broken heart. How can you do less than serve Him every minute of every day?

Heavenly Father, we come to You this morning asking You to please forgive us for being so selfish and for not caring enough about others to get out of our comfort zones. Heavenly Father, please teach us to love others unconditionally with an unselfish love as You love us. May we be children who bring You happiness and joy instead of children who bring You sadness and sorrow. Amen.

Until we finally grasp in our hearts how much Jesus did for us and how much He loves us, we will continue to stay in our comfort zones and be selfish. Is there anything wrong with watching television? No, there’s nothing wrong with watching it unless you’re watching something that you wouldn’t watch if Jesus was sitting next to you.

It all comes down to how important we think serving Jesus is and how much we love Jesus. Remember, the level of our service to Jesus depends on our level of love for Him. How tragic and heartbreaking it would be if while we were watching television someone we knew was committing suicide because he or she couldn’t bear the pain in his or her heart any longer.

Have we got it yet? Do we understand the urgency to tell others that Jesus loves them? Unless and until we give all of our time to tell others that Jesus loves them unconditionally, we are hurting Jesus and breaking His heart. One day, every one of us will stand before a Holy God and give an account of what we did with Jesus. Will you have to hang your head in shame because you didn’t give Jesus all of your life and all of your time?

Joanne Lowe