BY: Elizabeth Williams Haarberg

Make Us Uncomfortable

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

It’s easy to gravitate toward people who look like us, either in age, race, gender, or something else. The same is true as Christians. To bury ourselves in the familiar can start to look like a club.

Why is it important to reach outside our comfort zone?

“They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.”
John 17:16-18 English Standard Version

Jesus modeled what it was to have close confidants AND to reach out to others who didn’t fit the mold of Jewish male figures he hung around. There are multiple examples of healing lepers, blind, deaf, raising the dead, connecting with the out casts, and so on. If Jesus clung to the club motto, the world would not have been affected as deeply as it was.

Yes, we need community and confidants, but if we aren’t willing to reach out to those who need to know Jesus intimately, then we’re really missing the Christianity boat. This isn’t an encouragement to see people as projects, though. To truly impact people we should view them as equals.

Hiding behind our faith so as to not have to pursue the risky calling God is asking us to venture into is also a dangerous proposal. Being in the world but not of the world means we do the hard things at times. Going into the darkness to shed light where it looks impossible. If we are only doing the things that are possible in our strength, how do we think God will ever be able to show up?

“But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.””
Matthew 19:26 ESV

So, GO into the world so God can do the impossible. The people in our camp don’t need to be evangelized. The world does.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,”
Matthew 28:19 ESV

This does not mean we all need to sell everything and move to a foreign country. We can go and make disciples in our neighborhoods, coffee shops, and work. It’s what we do when we’re awake.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado