“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” Romans 12:1
Try something for me. Put your hands on either side of your face so that your peripheral vision is completely taken away. Now pick a location near you (ex. your refrigerator) and walk there. The world around you seems to disappear and you can only take in what is directly in front of you. You find that there is a reason why you don’t see people walking around with blinders on. Even though it is dangerous and just plane weird I feel like I have lived a good portion of my life with blinders on. They weren’t physical blinders obstruction my vision, but another kind. They were the kind that allowed me to walk through a grocery store without making eye contact with a single person. My blinders gave me an excuse to care more about the quality of the waves or the hole in my wetsuit than the guy waking up in the bushes. It may sound lame but they served their purpose perfectly. They made life EXTREMELY comfortable and to tell you the truth I liked my blinders. Shoot, I loved them; they were one of my favorite accessories.
I cannot sit here and tell you that there was a miraculous moment when I realized that there was a world beyond what was directly in front of me. If anything I was forced to look around by a God who constantly put me in uncomfortable situations. Whether it be trying to communicate in a foreign language or befriending someone whom you would normally avoid, Costa Rica has provided a multitude of awkward, uncomfortable situations. The weird part is that these kinds of situations have gone from being dreaded to strangely addicting. My favorite thing we do here in Costa Rica is discovery trips. We go out into the community without a destination with the purpose of seeing where God will show up. It is definitely uncomfortable walking around aimlessly, but God shows up in huge ways every time you go out of your comfort zone. It doesn’t just happen every once in a while, but every stinking time. It is absolutely incredible. There is nothing like it.
The verse above basically tells us that God wants us to be living sacrifices for him. He wants us to sacrifice our blinders in order that we may do his will. God wants us to worship him by serving others. I know for a fact that sacrificing your blinders will make life EXTREMELY uncomfortable at times. I challenge/encourage you to get uncomfortable. Look for situations that you would normally avoid like the plague and dive into them head first. I can guarantee that God will show up.
