Calling Us Out of Comfort...

I want you to imagine these circumstances:

You live a comfortable life. You have worked for years to get a nice big house with a comfortable yard. You are 75, and are just settling into the comfortable years of your life. You are content and satisfied and are ready to take up fishing, whittling, or some other hobby. Suddenly, your whole world is thrown for a loop. God speaks to you, and he calls you to leave everything you’ve ever known behind: your house, your community, your extended family. Pack up and move, but don’t worry about where. Just go and I will lead you where I want you to go.

Sounds crazy, right? What would you say? Is God serious? Does he really want me to give up my comfort just to follow his crazy plan? How do you think you would react?

As crazy as it sounds, it is EXACTLY what God asked Abraham to do. The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." (Gen. 12:1-3) The next thing we are told is that Abraham went; but I have a feeling that Abraham felt exactly as we would. What exactly is God thinking?

Yet God did something amazing through this ordeal. He leads Abraham from Mesopotamia to Egypt and then back to Canaan. He makes Abraham wealthy, gives him a child, and eventually fulfills his promise to change the world. God uses Abraham’s faithfulness to raise up a nation to raise up a Messiah. God’s mission is to change the world, and he puts his plan into motion through the faithfulness of one man. Isn’t it amazing, that God chooses to partner with us to pursue his mission in the world?

Man, I’m glad God has never called me to anything like he called Abraham. Or maybe he has. Maybe God has called us to give up comfort and “safety,” step out on a limb and bless the life of someone else. Maybe God wants to change the world through you, whether in small of large ways. Maybe God wants you to step out on faith and invite that coworker to church. Maybe he wants you to volunteer for FriendSpeak or World Bible School, ministering to people from another culture. Maybe he is calling you to go on a mission trip to some far away place, where God will change both your life and the lives of those you work with. Who knows? But I think God is still calling each of us to have some part in his mission to reach and change the world. The question is, will we listen to his gentle prodding or will we choose to be comfortable?

Each of us has a place in the mission of God. Will we choose to accept it? None of us are too old or too young, too set in our ways. We all have excuses, but God has solutions. So let’s get out there and change the world!