Sunday I spoke at Hoosier Harvest Church about Shirts & Skins (The parable of the Wineskins). If you haven’t read my blog from yesterday please do so before reading this…Shirts & Skins – Lesson #1 & Shirts & Skins – Lesson #2

Lesson #3 

Old Wineskins = THE SAFE ZONE

When Jesus referred to the old wineskins not being able to hold new wine, it was because they had been stretched to the max. They could not stretch anymore or they would burst. The old wineskins represent our unwillingness to stretch, I call it the safe zone. The safe zone is about the path of least resistance. It is the unwillingness to step out into greater things. It is about sitting back in the spiritual lazy boy and snoozing rather than seeking! In my new book, “Life Rules” that is coming out in a few weeks I talk about this concept.  One of the life rules is…Make Your PURPOSE More Important Than Your COMFORT. When our purpose is more important than our comfort we are driven to step out, but when our comfort is more important than our purpose we miss incredible opportunities!

The problem with the safe zone is that there is nothing there! It is a wasteland. We don’t grow in the safe zone we just exist. We are prisoners to apathy in the safe zone. All growth takes place outside of the safe zone! All the amazing things God has for us are waiting outside of the safe zone! God NEVER endorsed the safe zone, He called everyone out of it! Take every character in the Bible and it is about them stepping out of the safe zone! The abundant life Jesus talked about in John 10:10 does not exist in the safe zone! Small risk = small results. You will never experience all that God has for you in the safe zone!

The safe zone lulls people away with comfort, and comfort leads to apathy, apathy leads to entropy, entropy leads to numbness, and numbness leads to familiarity. Familiarity is when we have lost all meaning and purpose! I love what Max Lucado wrote in his book, “God Came Near.”

It was only a matter of minutes, maybe seconds. We almost lost her. The thought was numbing and convicting.

It was a little bit of hangin’.

The stool was kicked out from under my feet and the rope jerked around my neck just long enough to remind me of what really matters. It was a divine slap, a gracious knock on the head, a severe mercy. Because of it I came face to face with one of the underground’s slyest agents—the agent of familiarity.

His commission from the black throne room is clear, and total: “Take nothing from your victim; cause him only to take everything for granted.”

He’d been on my trail for years and I never knew it. But it I know it now. I’ve come to recognize his tactics and detect his presence. And I’m doing my best to keep him out. His aim is deadly. His goal is nothing less than to take what is most precious to us and make it appear most common.

He won’t steal your salvation; he’ll just make you forget what it was like to be lost. You’ll grow accustomed to prayer and thereby not pray. Worship will become commonplace and study optional. With the passing of time he’ll infiltrate your heart with boredom and cover the cross with dust so you’ll be safely out of reach of change. Score one for the agent of familiarity.

Nor will he steal your home from you; he’ll do something far worse. He’ll paint it with a familiar coat of drabness.

He’ll replace evening gowns with bathrobes, nights on the town with evenings in the recliner, and romance with routine. He’ll scatter the dust of yesterday over the wedding pictures in the hallway until they become a memory of another couple in another time.

He won’t take your children, he’ll just make you too busy to notice them. His whispers to procrastinate are seductive. There is always next summer to coach the team, next month to go to the lake, and next week to teach Johnny how to pray. He’ll make you forget that the faces around your table will soon be at tables of their own. Hence, books will go unread, games will go unplayed, hearts will go unnutured, and opportunities will go ignored. All because the poison of the ordinary has deadened your senses to the magic of the moment.

Before you know it, the little face that brought tears to your eyes in the delivery room has become—perish the thought—common. A common kid sitting in the back seat of your van as you whiz down the fast lane of life. Unless something changes, unless someone wakes you up, that common kid will become a common stranger.

The safe zone is about familiarity. It thrives off of routine and ritual. But the reality is you can’t sail to new lands without losing sight of the old shores! We can’t receive the new wine (God’s plans) if we are not willing to be stretched out of the safe zone. We have to always have a child-like heart that is growing and exploring. We are not called to settle we are called to pioneer! If you and I want to experience all that God has for us we must live outside the safe zone! In 1906 football changed. The forward pass was legalized but no one adopted the strategy. They clung to their traditional running and kicking. However St. Louis University practiced the new play and implemented it and outscored their opponents 402 to 11 that year and changed the game ever since. As coach John Wooden said, “It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.”

Never settle for the safe zone! Always continue to grow and step out into greater things!