The first
step towards getting somewhere is to decide you’re
not going to stay where you are.”[1]
--John Pierpoint
“J.P.” Morgan
‘Can’t they keep their minds on God for five minutes?
Do they simply refuse to walk down my road?’[2]
Do they simply refuse to walk down my road?’[2]
It is easiest in the morning. Assuming you slept
the night before, you have the energy to look forward. The willingness to
follow your plan. The focus to honor your boundaries. Preparedness to accept the
covenant you made with God.
Then evening comes, energy dissipates,
willingness becomes buried in the need to escape, our attentiveness moves from
plan to business as usual, focus and boundaries become blurred; we neglect to stay prepared.
How can you make positive changes in your life
and behavior when each day is a struggle just to
survive? How can you keep your mind on God when you fear the change you
need to make will just leave you alone on the other end?
I wonder if Jesus, as he resolutely set his face
toward Jerusalem and death, worried about this daily drift? Did he look at his
disciples’ fear and lack of understanding would create a carelessness ending in
an unintended destination?
God created a perfect plan to take the slaves
known to the Egyptians as the Hebrews and form them into a nation of spiritual fortitude
and power. He even hand-picked a leader and prepared him in the house of the Pharaoh, and among the herds and wilderness of
the Midianites.
The nation that would become Israel and the
disciples that would become the early church looked good on the surface. However, could they pay the price of success?
Today, like them, “each day is filled with thousands
of opportunities to change the story of our lives. . . . [We need to position
ourselves] to make the most proactive, intentional and beneficial decisions
possible.” [3]
7-12 If you only look at us, you might well
miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned
clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s
to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us. As it is,
there’s not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we’re not much to look at. We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we
know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t
broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and
murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives! Our lives are at
constant risk for Jesus’ sake, which makes Jesus’ life all the more evident in
us. While we’re going through the worst, you’re getting in on the best![4]
It is as
simple as:
1.
Deciding not stay
where you are;
2. Staying focused on God and his plan five minutes at a time; and
3. Being willing to carry the visible message of salvation visible in our brokenness. and weakness.
Bibliography
Hyatt, Michael, and Daniel Harkavy. 2016. Living
Forward: A Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get the Life You Want. Grand
Rapids, MI: Baker Books. Accessed March 2016. LivingForwardBook.com.
Petersen, Eugene H. 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000,
2001, 2002. The Message. Carol Stream, Illinois: NavPress Publishing
Group. Accessed March 18, 2016.
https://www.biblegateway.com/versions/Message-MSG-Bible/.
