WHERE IS YOUR COMFORT ZONE?

In our church sermon today, the minister asked us how free thinking we really are, and the reality is, probably not as much as we thought, because we all like our comfort zones and feel *aggrieved at being pushed out of it.

She said, roughly, Psychiatry calls it affinity vibes. It means our tendency to trust people who look, think, and sound like ourselves, or someone who comes from the same area we were bought up/live in. It is people we feel an **affinity to in some way.

But our calling in Jesus is to step out of our comfort zones and show what the world may see as radical love to all our neighbours – even those we struggle to like or agree with. We are called to talk to those you would normally ignore, Love those you do not yet know, help those who hate you, ***forgive those who hurt you.

Jesus warns the disciples that following him will not always be easy. He said they would come up against all sorts of opposition and all sorts of prejudice. I wonder if they realised that much of it would be from within themselves  -things they would need Jesus’ help with to overcome, to enable them to do the task that Jesus had given them.

I admit that I need Jesus’ help with these things daily. Even in the home! Relationships can be tricky. Spouses need to forgive each other, sometimes many times in a day. This is the only way we can stay together, and if you’re thinking about how often you forgive your spouse, remember that they too have forgiven you many times for things you have done which upset or hurt them.

We are called to continue this love when we go out into the world to work, shop, holiday, etc. Wherever we go, we take Jesus with us. His Spirit is with us in our weaknesses. He will help us overcome our faults and any other obstacles that are put in our path to trip us up. He sits at the right hand of God and is interceding for us, and nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. (Romans 8:26-39)

May the Lord comfort us in every situation through his Holy Spirit in us.

This is how I understand my God.

Read for yourself, see what you think.

Notes:

*Aggrieved means –

• feeling resentment at having been unfairly treated. "they were aggrieved at the outcome”

**Affinity means –

• a natural liking for and understanding of someone or something. "he had a special affinity with horses.”
• In Biochemistry. degree to which a substance tends to combine with another. "the bacterial proteins bind to these molecules with high affinity"

***Forgive means –

• stop feeling angry or resentful towards (someone) for an offence, flaw, or mistake.

"I'll neverforgiveDavidforthe way he treated her"

• no longer feel angry about or wish to punish (an offence, flaw, or mistake).

"I was willing to forgive all her faults for the sake of our friendship"

• cancel (a debt).

"he proposed that their debts should be forgiven"