The Case for Leaving Your Comfort Bubble This Year

Isolation isn’t always obvious. Sometimes it’s wrapped in the language of wisdom, holiness, or “guarding your heart.” But underneath many modern Christian circles lies a quiet habit that weakens our witness and limits our love: we stay in our bubbles. And it’s time to break out.

Whether you grew up in Sunday School or you came to faith later in life, the messaging is often the same: stay close to the Church, be careful about outside influences, and remember that the world is against you. But what if the people we’ve labeled as “the world” aren’t the ones Jesus warned us about?

Too often, Christians avoid meaningful friendships with people who don’t share our beliefs. We’re quick to quote Scriptures about not being “unequally yoked,” but slow to acknowledge that Jesus spent His time eating, walking, and weeping with people the religious elite had written off.

We’ve Misunderstood “the World”

In Scripture, the term “the world” wasn’t just shorthand for nonbelievers or alternative lifestyles. More often, it pointed to systems of pride, religious arrogance, and hearts hardened to the truth traits found as easily in pews as on the streets.

Jesus didn't come to condemn “outsiders.” He regularly exposed the hypocrisy of insiders. The Gospels are filled with His interactions not with priests and pastors, but with tax collectors, lepers, prostitutes, and Samaritans. He was accused not falsely of being a “friend of sinners” (Luke 7:34). That’s not a dig. It’s a blueprint.

Friendship Wasn’t a Strategy It Was a Lifestyle

Some argue that Jesus befriended sinners solely to convert them, to deliver a message and move on. But Scripture paints a more tender picture. He wept at Lazarus’s tomb. He dined in homes. He told stories. He offered compassion before correction. He didn’t lead with an agenda He led with love.

He didn’t say, “Befriend them so they’ll believe.” He simply did life with people and invited them into something deeper. If we’re honest, that’s far harder than simply handing out a tract or inviting someone to church. It’s messier. It’s slower. It’s real.

Being Jesus Is Harder Than Talking About Him

There’s comfort in structure, rules, and like-minded circles. And Christian community is essential we’re called to encourage, sharpen, and pray for one another. But if our only friendships are inside the Church, we’re not modeling Jesus. We’re mimicking Pharisees.

Loving others as Jesus did requires humility to see value in those who reject what we believe. C.S. Lewis once said, “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.” Every person bears God’s image, even those who want nothing to do with Him. That’s not sentimentality. That’s theology.

Let Your Reputation Be “Friend of Sinners”

Ask yourself this: if a camera crew followed you around this week, who would they see you spend time with? Would they only see small group friends and worship leaders? Or would they witness the kind of scandalous inclusivity that got Jesus in trouble?

He wasn’t afraid of guilt by association. He leaned into it. Because He knew that love required proximity and that truth without relationship feels like rejection.

Loving Isn’t Compromising

Getting out of your bubble doesn’t mean compromising your values. It means embodying them. It means treating your atheist coworker with dignity, not just tolerance. It means listening more than preaching. It means showing hospitality to the single mom, the trans neighbor, the outspoken critic of your faith and loving them with no strings attached.

The Church is not meant to be a gated community. It's a rescue mission. And that mission can’t succeed if we only talk to those who are already inside.

So this year, get uncomfortable. Invite someone unexpected to dinner. Sit with someone who disagrees with you. Build a friendship that won’t end with a conversion story and see what God does through that.

Because if Jesus thought it was worth His time to be misunderstood, accused, and labeled for the company He kept, maybe we should stop worrying so much about our reputations and start caring more about people.

Don’t just talk about Jesus this year. Be like Him. Go where He would go. Love who He would love.

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