Not My Thing

Many have been the time when I have heard someone beg out of helping with some ministry with the words,  "Preacher, that is not my thing.  I am not comfortable doing it."  Recognizing discomfort with some ministry is thought of as a reason not to participate when it might be Gods' way of affirming to us that involvement would mean responding to His call, or leading.  We often want the Holy Spirit to lead us and, in fact, we often pray for such a thing to happen.  What we do not recognize is that His call, or leading, is likely to take us out of our comfort zones.   

How different the story of the people of God would have been had Moses persisted in His refusal of God's call!  He did not perceive himself as a leader, or a speaker.  He was a shepherd out in the wilderness.  Ananias who went to pray for Saul of Tarsus is another example.  What if he had declared what God was calling him to do as too risky and stayed in his comfortable chair at home?  Of course, no one was called to leave a comfort zone as much as Mary who heard the Spirit announcing God's plan for her.   If these people had persisted with "This is not my thing,' we would surely be telling a different story about the Kingdom of God.   

So, let us turn this thing around.  How different the story of the Kingdom of God will be if we say, "Lord, You know what You ask is not my thing, but here am I."  What if we say what Isaiah said, "Here am I; send me!"  (Isaiah 6:8).  The truth is when God calls us, or leads us forward, He is most likely going to be doing so in such a way that we will have to turn loose our comfort zones in order to be obedient.  When we look at those who walked on the Biblical stage, we always see them being led from a place of comfort to a place where it cannot be done apart from dependence.  When He leads us, it is to a life where we will grow in our faith and our dependence on Him.  Who among would not want to go to such a place?