I’ve been taught for a long time now that to be an evangelist you have to be “bold“. You have to hold large meetings where people get healed. You have to see numerous people get saved. You need to be a part of serves where people can be instantly set free. To be “bold” means that you preach to everyone, waiters, mechanic, co-workers, family members, etc., and ask them to make a decision for Christ. You have to run into the street and get in the faces of a complete strangers and ask them the big question, “Do you know Jesus?”
I think “bold” comes in many shapes and sizes. It is not a “one size fits all” kind of deal. Boldness to one may not look like the boldness of another. I recently read a blog where the guy was talking about how harmful it can be to turn the light of truth on too soon in the lives of some people. He said, just like when you turn a bright light on in a pitch dark room, you can cause people to close their eyes to the truth, or look away to “protect” themselves from the truth. I started to think about how well this describes my desire in ministry, and more specifically, in evangelism. I have been taught that if I am not “bold” in preaching the Gospel then I am not really doing “evangelism“, I’m doing nothing more than exhorting people to start a relationship with Jesus. I’ve known for a long time that this is not the mold that I fit in to. I am not an “in your face” kind of person. I cannot go up to somebody I do not know and “boldly” ask, “Excuse me, are you born again?” I cannot bum rush my family and friends and demand that they make a decision for Christ.
I’ve also been taught that if you’re not constantly pushing yourself into the areas of discomfort that your living in a “comfort bubble” and the only way to know you are working for God is to push yourself outside of your “comfort bubble” and do what you don’t want to. I guess you can say that by not being “bold” I am letting myself off the hook and won’t grow in my ministry for God. So, for years I have been way too hard on myself about what I wasn’t doing. I have been way too hard on myself because I don’t know if every person around me is a Christian. I don’t know if the people around me were to die today if they would be in Heaven. Based on what I have learned I am letting myself off the hook from having to do the hard work, or the uncomfortable work.
Does this mean that I am really letting myself off the hook? Does this mean that I am really staying inside of my “comfort bubble“? Do I ever let myself outside of my comfort zone? The real answer is, no, I don’t let myself off the hook, or stay in my “comfort bubble“, and I do get outside of my comfort zone…way outside of it! For me I had to redefine “bold“. I had to understand that the definition that I had been given for years is not the correct definition at all. I had to come to a place were I realized that anytime I am outside my comfort zone and I want to quit, but I don’t, I am being “bold“.
I think that when someone works in a certain type of ministry people automatically assume that they are comfortable doing what they do. They think that I am comfortable in what I do. The truth is, I am not! The very thought of getting up in front of 15 people I have never met, who really could care less about what I have to say, because they are only there for the food and clothing, makes my stomach churn. It ties me up on the inside, but it is what God has called me to. The idea of having a Bible study at my place of employment every week so people can learn more about Jesus causes my stomach to churn, but it is what God has called me to. The idea of going out into the community and hunting down the homeless to try to help them makes my stomach churn, but it is what God has called me to. The idea of traveling into a disaster area, where I know absolutely nobody, so I can show the love of Jesus makes my stomach churn, but it is what God has called me to. Walking into the middle of a gay pride parade to show the love of Jesus makes my stomach churn, but it is what God has called me to.
The truth is, comfort doesn’t come with repeated action. What God has called us to do is not comfortable on any level, but it is what He has called us to. So no matter how much comfort projects from me as I do what God has called me to, know this, I am by no means comfortable. I think knowing this helps me to continue doing what I do without feeling down on myself because I don’t meet a specific standard. I know that I can be a Biblical evangelist and not be a “bold” , “in your face” freak toward everyone I meet. My part is to bring people slowly into the light. Some people just need to be eased into the Gospel. They need to know that I care before they care about what I know. They need someone to take the time to get to know them and to slowly guide them to a relationship with Jesus; to slowly turn the light of truth on so they don’t shut their eyes or turn their head from the truth. I know in my personal life that is what I needed.
So maybe “bold” doesn’t look the same in all of our lives. Maybe “bold” to me is easy to you, or maybe it makes you physically sick to your stomach. Either way, I know that I would not be reaching out to people, preaching, or teaching the Gospel if I was left to my own devises. If I had not started pushing myself way beyond my comfort zone I wouldn’t be fulfilling God’s call on my life today. I wouldn’t do what I do if I was living in my “comfort bubble“. I encourage you to be “bold” today. Take a step into uncertain waters and make yourself a little uncomfortable. Take a step outside of your “comfort bubble“, whatever that may look like
1 thought on “Comfort Bubble”
Geez Scott, way to go against the grain~
As for boldness, I think a lot of people I know are going to have a big issue with the “slowly” bringing people into the light, bit. I’m not one of them though. :) I think there is a lot of wisdom in being led by the Holy Spirit in witnessing, verses acting like a robot or computer program and always blurting out, “do you know Jesus?”.
(I know this is random but my iPad just tried to autocorrect my spelling and insert Beiber, LOL.)
Like Brother Hagin always said in class though, “There is a ditch on both sides of the road.” The real key is balance. There ARE times we need to just ask directly, no doubt about it but is it necessary to say it ALL the time, EVERYWHERE we go? I don’t think so.
Some plant, some water, some harvest… Just because there is an Evangelistic bent on your ministry doesn’t mean He won’t use you do something besides harvest every time you meet someone, look at Paul.
There was a lady I knew in Tulsa whom when asked, “How are you today?” would loudly reply, “I’m blessed and HIGHLY favored of the Lord!” in a REALLY loud, almost yelling voice! People learned to not ask her anymore, it was annoying, really annoying because it was an automatic, unthought-out response to EVERYTHING, ahhhhhh! Was she blessed and highly favored? I am sure she was but why do we so often find ourselves in situations where we give automatic responses instead of being sensitive to what God wants us to say?
I doubt that woman felt blessed and highly favored every moment of every day. Her reply was scripturally sound but it NEVER varied, it was like listening to the same ad of TV, over and over and over… Why not just be honest with people occasionally when they ask and use it as an opportunity to have a conversation, IF WE ARE LED TO DO SO? Not every time obviously, there are many times it’s simply a way of saying, “Hi” but once in awhile, I actually use it as an opportunity to tell them the truth because sometimes I am going through something and my response often sounds like, “Funny you should ask because….” Remember, ditches on BOTH sides of the road. Never get into a rut where we respond the same way every single time, unless perhaps when dealing with sin or temptation but that’s another topic.
Maybe what you shared today was meant for only me, (don’t we often feel that way?) but I see a lot of truth in what you are saying. Sometimes we feel a lot of pressure to act or respond in a certain way because we are charismatic, non-denominational, Spirit filled, tongue talking, Bible believing Christians but at the end of the day, we are just followers of Christ.
Jesus himself is recorded to have said to ones whom he’d healed to go and tell no one. Why? Well, in part because the timing was not yet right. To often we forget that God uses timing. Often times we are too quick to seal the deal instead of making sure the deal is ready to be sealed. Oooh, I like that, I think I’ll quote myself on that later… ;)
Seriously though, think about a can of soup, when you remove the lid and dump the contents in a bowl to warm up, have you ever thought about the fact that their was timing involved in putting those ingredients in? Imagine if they had all the ingredients for soup sitting at the factory but instead of going through a PROCESS (lots of timing in processes) they just dumped exactly the right amount of carrots, potatoes, noodles, celery, etc. in one at a time. Absolutely no thought to any specific recipe or mixing them together, just dumped it ALL in. Even though by all outside appearances that can weighs the same as a properly prepared can of soup, has the same percentage of each ingredient and has the same label on the outside, the inside is unbalanced and unedible because it was not created with the order nor correct timing.
I think that far too often we feel an internal pressure to ask people if they know Jesus because all the ingredients are there for “Witnessing Soup”. We ask if they know Him before we attempt to get to know them. The ingredients are all present so we start out with BOLDLY asking if they know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior (carrots), then we go to whatever the next ingredient is that we personally like to throw on next, etc., etc…
How often do we have all of the right ingredients in front of us when witnessing but instead of being led by the Master Chef in regards to how He would like us to proceed, we instead jump in and do it the same way we’ve always done or possibly worse yet, the way WE PREFER OR FEEL MOST COMFORTABLE WITH. No questioning, no recipe, just try to get dinner served as fast as possible. Not every meal is fast-food and neither is every meal a seven course dinner. Remember, there is a ditch on both sides of the road and the ditches can represent being locked into one method of doing things. Roads are typically pretty wide and the Holy Spirits job is to keep you going the right direction by showing you which lane to be in, when and for how long…
Not everyone likes the same things, just because we like something a certain way doesn’t mean the next guy does. A good chef makes things to order. God knows each of our individual traits, our likes and dislikes, the things that make us unique. I believe that when God has us dealing with people one on one, He knows the best way for your unique personality and someone else’s particular quirks to blend together for you to bring His message to them in a way that He desires and in a way that the one being witnessed to can digest.