A thought by John C. Maxwell, (2013-10-08) from his book, Sometimes You Win--Sometimes You Learn:Life's Greatest Lessons Are Gained from Our Losses (p. 180). Center Street.
Kindle Edition.
Have you ever read the book of Acts in the Bible? The book starts with Jesus leaving and going
to heaven and how troubling it was for His followers but He had done what He
was here to do and He had to end His stay so the work of the Holy Spirit could
begin. What would have happened if Jesus
said, “I don’t want to leave”? “I still
have work to do.” Then we wouldn’t have
had the opportunity to reap the benefit of His coming. For His work to continue, He had to leave it
to His followers through the Holy Spirit to continue it.
I had to leave my position of being a Pastor to begin the
privilege of becoming a writer.
Something had to end for something to begin.
John shared that “Poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson
had an insightful take on this. He asserted, ‘For everything we gain we lose
something.’ We like gaining, but we don’t like losing. We want to have the one
without the other. But life doesn’t work that way.” He also said, “We are continually making
trades in life. Unfortunately, if you resist change, you are trading your
potential to grow for your comfort. No change means no growth.”
Have you found that true yet in your life? I sold my car so that I would have to
walk. We had worked hard for those two
cars but the one was getting in the way of my desire to not be an invalid as an
older person. I needed to get out and
walk. That change forced me to walk.
What change do you need in your life? I remember the day I quit using my typewriter
and got my first computer. I remember
the day I signed up for Juno and the Internet which is now my avenue of
ministry. It is also a great way to
connect with friends and family all over the world. I can see the latest picture of my
granddaughters every day. My life is so
exciting because I have constantly looked at the opportunity for new things. But what if I hadn’t changed?
I am called to be an evangelist. My dad was an evangelist and we traveled all
over the US and Canada holding revivals in churches but in my day I was a Church
Planter. That was how I initially reached
out to people who didn’t know Christ now I use the Internet. The calling is the same but the method
changes. But we don’t want to
change. We want to be comfortable.
What is it that you need to change? Are you fighting it? Are you too comfortable?
So what are you going to do?
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