Month: January 2020

The Promise

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So I’ve been reading the One Year Chronological Bible. When I say reading, what I really mean is that I’ve been listening to it. It seems that I can’t read anything anymore. I get too distracted and end up having to re-read it several times so I can get what I just read. I’ve been told that I have ADD but that’s a different story for a different day.

Anyways, back on track. I have read certain passages in the Bible, some of the them multiple times. There are instances that I can read a passage that I have read often and not get too much from it. Just being honest. Other times, I can read the verse(s) and know what the context means. However, there are those times that I read a familiar passage that something completely new comes alive in it. It’s like, ‘Wow! Why haven’t I ever seen that before”. Sometimes it is so deep that I can’t believe that it has never jumped out at me before.

That is what happened the other day when I was “reading” Genesis. It’s the story of Abraham and his two sons-Ishmael and Issac. If you remember the story Abraham and Sarah were very old when God told them that they were going to have a baby. They both thought it was impossible so they took matters into their own hands rather than wait on the promise of God. Long story short, Abraham did have a son but through Hagar, the Egyptian servant of his wife Sarah. They named the baby Ishmael. Years later, Sarah had her own baby that she named Isaac.

Now Abraham had many more children through his wives and concubines. But the promise that Abraham was going to be the “father of many nations” was through Isaac. Although he loved and valued all his children, he knew that Isaac was going to fulfill the promise that God gave to him. Obviously there was so much jealousy, bickering and other drama that took place between Sarah, Hagar and the others. All because they knew that Isaac had a special relationship with Abraham.

He sent them away

Now we are where I was getting to before. In Genesis 25:5-6, Abraham is on his death bed. Here is what it says:

Abraham gave everything he owned to his son Isaac. But before he died, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them off to a land in the east, away from Isaac.

He gave everything he owned to Isaac. This seems cruel that Isaac got everything that Abraham owned. Gee, dad, I know that Isaac is the “promised one” but, c’mon. However, it goes on to say that before he died, he gave gifts to his other sons. They were his sons too. He loved each of them in his own way. He spent time teaching them, loving them, watching them grow up to have their own families. He was like any good, attentive father with his children. Therefore, he gave gifts to them as well.

Yet the rest of the story is what jumped out at me. Abraham sent them off to a land in the east, away from Isaac. More cruelty? I dont think so. First of all, it must have been very hard to say goodbye to all of his sons and their families. Remember, he had relationships with all of them. Yet, God just had something special planned through Isaac. So he sent the other children off towards the east, not knowing if he would ever see them again.

Why did he do this? I think part of the answer comes in the last few words of the verse. He sent them off to a land in the east…away from Isaac. This jumped off the proverbial page at me. He sent them away from Isaac. Away from the promise. Away from whom God told him was going to be his future. He didnt want anything to get in the way between Isaac and the promise that God gave him. He sacrificed his relationship with everyone else for the sake of the promise of God.

There was already arguments and jealousies and backbiting that was going on between his family members. Imagine what could have happened if they stayed together. Remember, later on in the family line that Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery. Some wanted to kill him. Talk about a toxic relationship. You think your family tree is crooked. Therefore, the wise thing seems to be to separate them to ensure that peace will remain and that the promise that God gave to him concerning Isaac would endure.

His promise to us

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Here is the application of this story. We cannot allow anything to get in the way of the promises that God has given us. There are a lot of things that are precious to us. A lot of things that we love and hold in value. There are things (some good, some bad) that we hold on to that are a part of our identity and that we cherish. However, we can not allow those things to interfere with what God has for us. He has a promise for us all. To love us unconditionally. To protect, provide, to give us a future and a hope. Yet there are times that we hold on to things that we think are important to us but is in direct contraction to the promise that He has for us.

Therefore, we need to remove those things away from our lives. We need to send those things “to the east” away from our “Isaac”, our promise. This is not easy to do. There may be heartache and reluctancy and fear. Yet, necessary in order to be in the place that God wants us to be. We need to rid ourselves of the “toxic relationship”of self talk, poor self image, painful memories, hopelessness and so on that wants to choke the life out of who we are in Him.

So there you go. Not too deep. There are so many other things that we can talk about concerning this situation but I just wanted to share what stood out to me as I was “reading”. I would appreciate your comments or thoughts, as well. Until then, remember to stand on those promises of God.

How To Succeed in the New Year

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This is the time of year that many do some self-examination. We want to improve ourselves, make changes and begin healthier habits. There is something about a new year that tells us that we can have a new beginning as well. So, we start out the new year with the best intentions to finally make the changes that we always wanted. However, there is research that shows up to 92% of people who start a new habit or behvaior gives up before they see it through.

Stop eating junk food, don’t procrastinate, stop spending so much money, quit being codependent on others. We have good intentions to change but ultimately, we dont always succeed. The failure comes when we do not set ourselves up to be successful. Real change comes when we put ourselves in a position to succeed.

Part of that is developing routines and habits. In fact, Steven Covey tells us that our habits will make us or break us. We become what we repeatedly do. Those who are successful (at anything) do consistently what other people do occasionally. Jesus, for example, would get away from the crowds on a regular basis so that He can spend some one on one time with the Father. The apostle Paul would often go into the synagogue to teach when he came to a new city in order to share the gospel.

They made certain things a priority to give them the best chance to succeed. That is true with everything we do. We always make time for the things that are important to us. Whether good or bad. For better or for worse. We will sacrifice other things in order to the things that we consider essential to our wellbeing.

But in the end, we all make choices that effect us either positively or negatively. Sometimes we just make dumb decisons. Paul talks about this in Romans chapter 7:

I don’t really understand myself for I want to do what is right but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. I want to do  what is right but I can’t. I want to do what is good but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong but I do it anyway. Oh what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! the answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord

Romans 7:15,18-19,24-25

Paul struggles with what we all struggle with. We have good intentions but end up making poor choices. Sometimes it seems that we just cant help it. So how do we make successful changes and what can we do to prevent us from getting off track?

Reasons Why We Don’t Succeed

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We often know what we want to take place but we don’t know how to get there. It is okay to have goals but our goals alone don’t determine whether we are going to be successful at getting where we want to be. What type of systems are we putting in place that will help us reach our goal? What measures are we implementing to prevent us from falling back into those old habits. We need those systems and measures in place when we encounter stress or other obstacles that could get us off track. Again, goals are helpful and beneficial to have successful change as long as those systems or measures are in place as well.

Another reason we don’t succeed in our quest for change is that we give up too soon. If we dont see the changes fast enough we get discouraged and give up. We say to ouselves “what’s the use?”, “Why bother?” or fall back into our negative disparaging self-talk like “I’m never going to change” and “Im always going to be the same.” However, we need to remember that nobody develops those unhealthy habits (or attitudes) overnight. Any type of change starts with making small steps, sometimes one day at a time, one moment at a time.

We also don’t succeed because of our distorted identity of who we think we are. It ends up sabotaging our own success. We make excuses for why we can not be or were not successful. Like Moses, who complained that no one would listen to him because he was not a good speaker- we set up our own roadblocks on the pathway to success. What we are actually doing is defining our identity by our past failures. If that is the way we see ourselves, it should be no wonder that we are producing unhealthy habits, behaviors or attitudes in return.

The Power of Routines

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Therefore, in order to develop new behviors, we have to develop new thought processes. Our thoughts lead to emotions and they in return to our behaviors. Healthy routines help heal us from past behaviors. Healthy routines starts with thinking differently then what we normally would. No one starts a diet one day and then the next day is the weight that they want to be. There is a lot of “in between” stuff that we go through in order to lose that weight. Those healthy routines helps us navigate through those “in between” times. Routines give us structure and support. It gives us predictability. It replaces addictive and destructive behaviors with healthy and constructive ones. Finally, thinking, feeling, behaving different allows us to see a new perspective than what we have trained oursleves to believe in. Those positive changes can bring us some sort of sanity in our already crazy life. It is ok to try something different when your current path is not working. As we know, the defintion of insanity is doing the same things over and over but expecting different results.

You Are Not Finished Yet

Finally, our motto this new year needs to be based on that you are a work in progress. The scriptures tell us that “…God will complete the work that He started in me until the day that Jesus Christ returns.” In addition, we need to continue to tell ouselves that “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”

Therefore, in the midst of us trying to reach our goals and seeing the lasting change in our life, and in all the “in between” things that we face, there are a couple things that we can remember. The first is that you have the ability to do “all things through Christ” and reach you goals. It is He who gives you the strength to accomplish them. The second is that when we do fail or fall, we can remmeber that we are still a work in progress. God is not done with us yet. He has not given up on us. Therefore, we should not give up on ourselves or our goals for the new year.