Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States

Has Not Been Emptied From Vessel to Vessel


print Print  |  send Send to a friend  |  bookmark Bookmark  |   |   |  back Back

Keraza Magazine issue 31-32 August 8, 2014

"Moab has been at ease from his youth; He has settled on his dregs, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, nor has he gone into captivity. Therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent has not changed" (Jeremiah 48:11). This is how Jeremiah, the prophet, prescribed the condition of Moab who represents all those who prefer to remain in "The Comfort Zone"; what psychologists define to be the space one restricts his behaviors within its boundaries. This helps him to feel no stress or anxiety because he is then used to behave in a routine predetermined context. The risk of being confined all the time to the comfort zone is that the routine that characterizes it engenders in the person a mental adaptation that gives him a false feeling of security and at the same time restricts his ability to grow and to be creative. This means that this person refuses change and trends towards the routine to keep a fake sense of security and to avoid a probable anxiety. This, in turn, leads to hinder his growth and development.

In fact, the word "dregs" is a very expressive word that marvelously expresses the negative consequences of being confined to the boundaries of the comfort zone. Dregs are the sediments that tend to precipitate from a liquid at the bottom of the vessel. Therefore, the sentence "He has settled on his dregs" means that his settlement is a false one. He is deceived thinking that everything is going well while the deposits, precipitate and sediments are settled in the depths of his soul. The attitude of the people of Israel when they went out of Egypt, which represents their comfort zone, to the Promised Land is the clearest example in the Holy Bible that clarifies this false unrealistic settlement "Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, 'Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness" (Exodus 14:11-12).

Going out of the boundaries of the comfort zone requires a courage which many lack. It is the courage of mortification of one's ego that asks for every comfort and escapes every pain. Nevertheless, God, who is the True Physician of our souls, spirits and bodies, knows the extent of psycho?spiritual danger that lies behind our abiding inside this zone. Therefore His Providence intentionally plans some incidents in our lives that cause us to be "emptied from vessel to vessel". By doing this, He breaks the boundaries of our false sense of security to help us getting rid of all the spiritual and psychological sediments that are precipitated in the bottom of our internal man. Moving from one country to another, from one work to another, from a social status to another, from health to illness, from companionship to solitude, from marriage to widowhood… are all examples of being "emptied from vessel to vessel". They are the sieve used by the Holy Spirit to filter all the impurities of the old man from the soul "that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish" (Ephesians 5:27).

Bishop Youssef
Bishop, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States


print Print  |  send Send to a friend  |  bookmark Bookmark  |   |   |  back Back