The Point Of No Return
A Call For Radical Change
Introduction
Have you ever gotten to a point in your life where you have said to yourself “I’ve had enough?” Have you ever said those words to yourself and truly meant it? Perhaps you have and you chose to numb the frustration. Perhaps you haven’t and you’re happy and are at ease with life. Everyone's experiences are different but for the most part we all experience the feeling of being fed up with our situations and circumstances. If you happen to be feeling that way then I am writing this to tell you this one thing: Now is the time for radical change!
I experienced the feeling of being fed up throughout my life but things never seemed to change. I would tell myself that I am about to do things differently, however things always stayed the same. In hindsight, this was because I became deceived by my comfort zone which in turn kept me in a perpetual cycle of frustration. The comfort zone told me that radical change will be too risky. The comfort zone told me that being average is better than being a failure. What it didn’t tell me is that failure is a prerequisite to greatness. It was a lightbulb moment of realisation that said: “My comfort zone has sucked all of life out of me, I cannot live here anymore.”
To be perfectly honest with you, I have had counterfeit realisations throughout my life where the same statement was proclaimed without a real sense of belief. It never brought me to a place of radical change. This is because I will try and make drastic changes in my life from my own strength and willpower. The problem is that your decisions will never be radical enough for greatness because conservatism looks appealing when you put your faith into the limitations of human capacity. Therefore when things get hard, there will always be a temptation to return to the comfort zone. But there is a point you can get to where going back is no longer optional even though looking back is still tempting.
The Point of No Return
This title is famously associated with several coastal regions across West Africa where slaves were horrifically forced to board ships headed across the Atlantic to unknown destinations; against their will! Many of them never returned to their homeland. I remember visiting The Point of No Return (Badagry, Lagos, Nigeria) as a teenager. I thought to myself: “one of the worst experiences in life is to be taken captive at the hands of evildoers and not being able to do anything about it”. It was a humbling experience that I will never forget. But what does it look like getting to a point of no return as human beings for our good as opposed to our doom? What does it look like being on a path that won’t abandon you once you have chosen it?
1. Surrender
It looks like surrender to a loving Father who is willing to partner with you on a journey of growth while constantly renewing your mind along the way. It might seem scary but the reality of self destruction at the hands of our own ignorance is even more frightening. If God is all loving, and we are not, then his will can only be a good thing. You are not heading on a ship to meet your slave-master on a plantation field keeping you in bondage. You’re heading on a ship that is freeing you from the bondage of your comfort zone where self destruction is inevitable (Proverbs 14:12). Pleasure is not always synonymous with freedom. Therefore, action without surrender will always leave the door open for you to be tricked back into the very place you are trying to get away from. If you start a journey of personal growth without surrender, your journey will take up the “image” of progress while abandoning the essence of freedom.
2. Action
On the contrary, you cannot surrender your life to the will of God while expecting to be carried into a life of freedom. God is looking to lead and partner with you, not control you. Therefore your actions matter. The joy of driving a car comes from being behind the wheel while knowing exactly where you are going. The will of God gives a sense of direction to the person behind the wheel bringing delight to the journey. Your actions now take the form of habits that make you a better driver. A pilot can have the best skills in the world, but if the flight starts without aircraft navigation, then all of his/her skills become useless. In the same light, a person who has never been to flight school can be in direct communication with the control tower; that aircraft is still not going anywhere!
Good habits don’t die when they have been cultivated under the will of God.
Leaving Your Comfort Zone and Never Returning
Everything that happens in the comfort zone is synonymous with stagnation, while everything that happens outside of it is synonymous with progress. It takes the order of surrender followed by action to be able to leave the comfort zone without returning.
A man hiding in shelter cannot win a war, neither can a man who enters the battleground without an arsenal. Victory is assured for the brave and equipped.
Personal development without God is an embodiment of this narrative: “the man who enters the battleground without an arsenal”. On the other hand, surrendering to God without bravery of action suggests that you might still be surrendered to the bondage of your comfort zone. A man made shelter will never cast out the fear that is holding you back (1 John 4:18 ESV). Action through surrender is the recipe behind a destiny fulfilled life.
And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23
This verse beautifully encapsulates the principle of action through surrender. Jesus told us to give up our way - the way that led us into self destruction. Then he told us to pick up our cross daily and follow him. This is not suggestive of a lonesome journey and neither is it suggesting a stagnant one. A journey that is uncomfortable to our flesh but comforting to our souls. A journey where pleasure is no longer our purpose but a by-product of it.
6 Signs You Might Still Be In Your Comfort Zone
You have never left your hometown - When things haven’t changed, a change of environment is likely to take off the shelter of apathy.
You don’t workout - Working out trains your body to be comfortable in being uncomfortable. Growth becomes a reward where your mental capacity begins to mirror your physical capacity.
Pleasure is your priority - Living for the weekend while your joy is at the mercy of your favourite TV show suggests that you have probably relegated purpose beneath pleasure.
It is a struggle to get out of bed - A reason to wake up is a reason to live. Dreading the day ahead is a sign of being too comfortable.
Giving in to every food craving - This is a sign that you haven’t trained your body to understand delayed gratification. It took me 2 years to be able to stand at a supermarket counter without picking up a bar of Snickers every time I shopped for food.
You have stopped dreaming - You stop thinking about the things that once excited you. This is a sign that your life is consumed in a mundane routine, out of alignment with your God given purpose.
If you made it to the end then these are my final words to you… It’s time for radical change and it’s time to partner with God.
Have a great day!