Beyond Comfort Zones: Embracing the Challenge of Growth
Reading of the Word
Introduction
The Rear View Mirror
To become an excellent Christian and fulfill your kingdom purpose, you too must have a short memory and a clear direction. So, what aspects of yesterday must you forget? All of them—the good, the bad, and the ugly. You’ve got to let go of your successes, your failures, and the ways others have hurt you. It’s not that you don’t remember the past; it’s that you don’t allow the past to be a controlling factor in your life. Don’t spend too much time looking in the rearview mirror. A much bigger piece of glass called the windshield should have your focus because where you’re going is a lot bigger than where you’ve been.
The way to get over yesterday is to have a forward focus, to press on. Look to the future, not the past
The Windshield
A study of the idea of ‘calling’ in the Epistles of Paul will reveal that its meaning is not ‘invitation’ into gospel privileges but the power of God over the wills of his people. It is not God’s invitation to be saved; it is God’s determination to save.
The life of a Christian is in heaven, where his Head and his home are, and where he hopes to be shortly; he sets his affections upon things above; and where his heart is, there will his conversation be
Attitude is Everything
He did not ‘think of himself more highly than he ought to think’ and this lowly self-estimate was a springboard to progress.
To be ‘perfect’ means to become increasingly like our Lord Jesus Christ, with his righteousness, not only as an inward, spiritual gift but as an outward way of life