It’s Monday morning the first work day of the New Year. You’ve made your resolutions about how you want to change and how you hope life will be different this year. But here you are facing the same ole’ same ole routine. I’ve tossed around various illustrations for approaching this thought—getting my truck out of a mud bog, clearing a stagnate pool of water, or walking on a tread-mill getting nowhere. None totally fit but all make a point about being stuck in the monotony of life. What happened to the excitement of life? The joy of a family? The enthusiasm for church? The passion of serving Christ? Why has nothing changed in the past year as I hoped it would?
One survey reports that only 8% of people achieve their New Year resolutions. The majority of resolutions are superficial efforts motivated by peer or cultural pressure. Lasting change comes only from a heartfelt personal desire for a different life. The essential step for any change is a principle so simple it is easy to overlook—To change you must do something different. If you are bogged down, stagnated, and getting nowhere, you must do something different. No one should expect their life will become any different if they continue repeating the same actions and thinking the same thoughts. Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Believers must never stop growing in Christ, which means we are constantly changing and doing life different.
Some would say, “Well, I’m praying for a miracle this year that God will make it happen.” A miracle is act only God can do by overruling the natural laws He put into place. At times, you may need a miracle, however this is not the normal way the Lord works. He designed life so that we become part of the solution. Moses told Israel after they had circled Mount Seir for many days, “And the LORD spoke to me, saying, ‘You have circled this mountain long enough. Now turn north’ (Deut 2: 2, 3). Many days actually indicated the past forty years during which the people wandered in the wilderness. Now the time had arrived that they take possession of their promised land. Note what did not occur. God did not miraculously destroy the Canaanites and transport Israel into their new home. No, the people packed up their belongings and marched to the Jordon River east of Jericho, after crossing the river, they fought and destroyed the Canaanites battle by battle. Yes, God worked in their behalf, but the Israelites were active participants in this process.
Paul says he continued pressing forward by forgetting what was behind. Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phil 3:13-14). Accept the fact the past is irreversible no matter how much you wish you could change it. Let your past be a rudder guiding your future and not an anchor holding you prisoner. If you have confessed and asked for forgiveness leave your sins and failures in the past. Wipe the slate clean, forgive yourself, and press forward. This verse points out that no Christian can ever declare, “I have arrived.” Paul not only forgot any failures, he didn’t bank on his accomplishments and kept pushing forward. When water stops moving, it stagnates becoming a breeding ground for parasites and disease. Spiritual stagnation also becomes a breeding ground for discouragement, bitterness, hopelessness, and sin, etc.
The worries and cares of life can become like a mud hole in which we bog down. I’ve got my truck stuck on occasions when no one else was around to give me a pull. The first step started with looking for something solid, like tree branches or rocks, then getting them under my wheels. For the believer, we put our life back on the solid ground through the Word. If you find you are stuck, stagnated, and getting nowhere then begin by taking an inventory of our life. Why am I not moving forward as a Christian? What can I change? Then begin the process of change by doing something different. Keep in mind, change is an ongoing process. Like Israel conquering their Promised Land, it happened battle by battle.
Real change moves beyond an external make over rather it results from a transformation from within. This happens when we allow the Holy Spirit to work in and through our life. Jesus promised we would be rivers of living (flowing) water. Like walking on a treadmill getting nowhere, we can stay busy performing our religious duties and family demands but still bog down and stagnate because we are merely going through the motions. Changes with God are possible no matter how spiritually low we have gone. When Isaiah wrote, Israel was far from being where God wanted them. Take Isaiah’s words as your sustaining word for the week.
Sustaining Word for the Week: “Do not call to mind the former things, Or ponder things of the past. “Behold, I will do something new . . . I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert (Isa 43:18, 19).