JR. Forasteros - December 7, 2014
The Apocalypse Isn't So Bad
Our culture is pessimistic about where the world is going. And you’d think Christians are just as bad, what with our fire-and-brimstone apocalypse. But the earliest followers of Jesus looked forward to the End. For them, it wasn’t the end of everything, just the end of injustice. So they celebrated that God has been holding off, because every day is one more day for people to find the life God is inviting us all into. And God invites all of us to join in his rescue mission, to speed the coming of the End by living as breathing invitations to escape death and find life!
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Is there a time you can think of that God called you out of your comfort zone?
I was a sophomore in high school when my youth pastor asked me to teach Sunday School — for the middle school boys.
I was sixteen years old. I didn’t know much about anything. What was my youth pastor thinking? Fortunately, he didn’t just throw me to the wolves. I was a co-teacher with Rich, one of our youth ministry volunteers. We even had a curriculum book to work out of — so all I had to do was just follow the book!
I’ll never forget how terrified I was to teach that first lesson. These were kids I knew, at least a little. Younger brothers of some of my friends. And who was I? Just some high school kid. I had a few Bible verses memorized and could tell you some of the stories about Jesus, but I wasn’t qualified to teach.
To this day, I’m not sure why they asked me to help Rich out. Maybe it was because I had shared with my youth pastor I felt a call to ministry, or maybe it was because I was annoying my own Sunday school class. I’ll never know.
I do know two things: first, I know I was wildly unprepared to step up in that way. Like, couldn’t have been less qualified if I tried.
And second, I know teaching that middle school Sunday School class grew my faith in a big way. I was never again quite as intimidated stepping of my comfort zone when it came to teaching and leading. I had already done it, and I saw that God never asked me to be an expert. He just wanted me to be faithful and do what He was calling me to do.
So back to that first question: can you think of a time God has called you to serve outside of your comfort zone? One way God grows our faith is to call us to serve outside our comfort zones.
