Woah, woah, woah. You're probably thinking, "what the heck is with that title?" And you probably clicked on this because the title caught your eye as something you down right disagree with. I don't blame you; it's definitely not a statement that people often live by, let alone encourage others to do. Soooo then, why did I say it?
I had a realization today as I was stripping out rooms of dirty sheets and towels. (God often speaks to me in simple, profound ways when I'm going through the motions of regular, daily tasks.) The thought made me literally stop what I was doing, look at the wall, blink a couple times, smile, and say, "hmm...dang... wow."
The thought came to me in these words exactly, "being in Christ means I am never out of my comfort zone".
I don't know about you, but my personality is not one that enjoys taking risks, trying new things that may initially seem sketchy or threatening, or otherwise doing things that appear "uncomfortable". I would guess most all of us would say we like our quote on quote "comfort zones", and that it can be a real struggle to push ourselves to get out of them. We like comfort because it makes us feel secure, safe, and adequate.
But here's the dealio: as believers in Christ, our life is no longer our own. As you just took a breath, the carbon dioxide you breathed out spelled "J-e-s-u-s". He is our literal life now that we are in Him. You can try your hardest to live the way you want--to chase hardcore after your comfort-seeking flesh and the bad habits you have of trying to stay "comfortable", but it will not change the reality of the righteous life you received on the day you accepted Christ and the sinful life that met its tomb and burial that same day.
Scripture tells us numerous times that in the instant we become new creations (once we choose to accept Jesus) Christ comes and indwells us and we then also indwell Him. We are IN HIM and He is IN US. It's like one big, happy, righteous bubble! His life is now our life and our life is now His. Confused yet? Well, don't be. Colossians 3:4 puts it as simple as you can get by saying, "...Christ is your life..." Additionally, Galatians 2:20 states, "...it is no longer I who lives by CHRIST who lives in me." Oh, and in John 17:23 Jesus talks about Him being in us and us being in Him so as to bring us to complete unity. Not enough? Go and read the letters from Paul in the New Testament such as Philippians, 1 Peter, Romans, Ephesians, and Colossians where he greets believers by saying they are in Christ.
Since we are clearly within Christ and because He is our life, shouldn't that also mean that all that He is is now ours? You bet it does! We are redeemed and forgiven, completely lavished in wisdom and in the full riches of His grace. (Eph. 1:7) Because we are in Him, we have received every spiritual blessing, every unfathomable treasure of Christ. (Eph. 1:3, Eph. 3:8) What's more is we are seated in heavenly places, at the right hand of our Father, RIGHT NOW. (Col. 3:1, Eph. 2:6) It's hard to picture, but it's reality, like it or not. To not believe and accept that all of this applies to you, as a new creation, is to squander and doubt the finished work and the active life of Jesus gifted to you.
So now, back to our comfort zones. Because our life is now hidden in Jesus and we are one in spirit with Him, (Col. 3:3, 1 Cor. 6:17) it is safe to assume that our zone of comfort--of security and adequacy-- is now also in Him. Since He is our very life and gives us our identity, we can never be separated from Him. He is our safe place, our home, our refuge. From what we're seeing described in Scripture, life in Jesus sure seems pretty comforable, don't you agree? Think of it: all our needs met, being able to rest in the heavenly realms, free from mastery of the evil one, secured in eternity, one with Jesus in spirit, granted full access to God, fully known, fully accepted, fully loved--it all sounds pretty dang comfortable. In fact, it sounds like the very epitome of how we would define the perfect comfort zone by earthly standards.
I think dwelling on this fact-- that we can never escape our comfort zone in Christ-- will offer a lot of freedom to life in the physical world. As we go through each day, if we rest in the reality laid out for us in the Bible, knowing that we are forever comfortable and comforted in Jesus no matter what happens here on earth, we can experience a freedom like no other. The freedom to try scary things. The freedom to risk failure and embarrassment. The freedom to take on daunting tasks. I mean, what do we have to lose, seriously? We're free to do any and all things God calls us to because we are first and foremost secure in Christ. And even though situations are flighty and circumstances are fidgety, our reality in Jesus and His reality in us never changes. Ever. He's forever our zone of comfort, our safe place that we never leave.
I hope this thought offers you the same freedom it did for me. <3
-Sarah xoxoo