Staying In Our Comfort Zones

Staying in Our Comfort Zones

Orpah

Read: Ruth 1:6-14

Once again, I pulled out the conference brochure. All my life I had fantasized about being a writer, but I had no idea why this had come in the mail. I alternated between excitement and fear. It would mean driving over a hundred miles by myself to an unfamiliar area, which I’d never done before. What if I got lost? At the workshop, I would turn in a writing sample to be evaluated. What if I was told I was a terrible writer? Then I wouldn’t have even the dream anymore. I took a deep breath when I noticed that the deadline was the next day. Time to make a decision.

Orpah also knew how it felt to be torn between staying with the safety of the familiar or exploring new territory. When Naomi was ready to return to her own country, she urged her two daughters-in-law to return to their families. Orpah dearly loved her mother-in-law and insisted that she would go with her. But when Naomi urged her again, Orpah relented and tearfully kissed her good-bye. Orpah’s decision appeared reasonable, since it seemed to be the only way for her to remarry and have a family, but in later years, did she wonder what the other life might have been like?

God often calls us to leave our comfort zones to serve him in some new way. Then we have to decide whether we will allow our shyness, our lack of confidence in our abilities, or a fear of the unknown to keep us from following him. When God leads us into new territory, we can be sure that a great adventure lies ahead. If I hadn’t stepped out in spite of my fears to attend my first writers’ conference, I would have missed the blessings of a new ministry. And you wouldn’t be holding this book in your hands.

God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

2 Timothy 1:7