JR. Forasteros - August 17, 2014
Haggai
When we experience crushing tragedy, recovering seems impossible. Often, we build walls inside ourselves, keeping our hearts and souls safe - or so we think. Haggai shows us that in the wake of the Exile, God's people were doing the same. They were neglecting their relationship with God because it was too painful. But Haggai's challenge to them is the same as to us: if we stay behind our walls, we'll slowly die. We must embrace God once again, and when we do, we'll find not a God who is cold, uncaring and distant, but a God who suffers with us, who is working even now to redeem the world.
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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.
