Giving Comfort in the God Zone

By Hally Franz –

Peer pressure is not just for kids. My own sister has inflicted considerable pressure upon me regarding texting. She is frustrated that I don’t yet have that capability with my cell phone. I am very content to keep it that way.

My husband and I recently purchased laptops for our son and me. My home computer is nearly seven years old, and we needed an upgrade. Ivan immediately came home and began using his laptop, excited to be liberated from the community computer. However, I have yet to open mine. The fear of some complicated log-on, download or set-up process has me stalled.

I am fairly proficient with a few computer programs, but I resist technology. I don’t join lots of sites and rarely make on-line purchases. And, are you ready for this? We still have “free” TV in our home.

Technology is not my area of expertise. It is not in my comfort zone. While it is hard to function in our society without using and sometimes even embracing technology, some people find it easy to avoid having a relationship with God. In a culture where many deem a smartphone a greater necessity than an hour in worship, we need to make it as easy as possible for others to connect and commune with believers and our Heavenly Father.

Do we take time to invite the un-churched into our church homes, encouraging rather than pressuring them to learn more about Jesus and His saving grace? When visitors enter our buildings, are we willing to patiently teach them about Christian concepts that may be totally foreign to them? Or, do we express frustration when they resist moving from their comfort zone into unknown territory?

The truth is that my computer competency will not enhance my prayer life nor study of His word. No high-tech communication devices or e-readers are needed. While it may be wise for me to expand my technology knowledge for success here on earth, it is absolutely essential for me to broaden my theology knowledge to ensure eternity in heaven.

Let’s help our brothers and sisters do the same.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, help me to be easily approachable and welcoming to our church visitors. May they find it joyful, rather than stressful, to begin their own journeys of faith.

“And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth,” (2 Timothy 2:24-25 NKJV).