Skip to main content

"We don’t see the world as it is. We see the world as we are."


A thought by Mark Batterson from his book, Win the Day (p. 23). The Crown Publishers Group. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.)

No we don't and yes we do.

Mark says, "We don’t see the world as it is. We see the world as we are. If you want to win today, you’ve got to start by rewriting yesterday."

Earlier Mark said, "The story of the Exodus is Israel’s signature story. It defined their identity as a free people. Even their calendar revolved around the day God delivered them. The anniversary of the Exodus, the Passover, was a day celebrated unlike any other. God delivered Israel in a single day, but they didn’t possess the Promised Land until forty years later. Did you know that the entire journey from Mount Sinai to the Promised Land was supposed to take eleven days? (Deuteronomy 1:2) But they traveled for forty years! That’s 14,589 days longer than their original ETA. What the heck happened?"

He goes on, "Getting Israel out of Egypt was easy, relatively speaking. Getting Egypt out of Israel was a different story altogether, and I mean that literally. It took one day to get Israel out of Egypt, but it took forty years to get Egypt out of Israel. Why? When you’ve been enslaved for four hundred years, slavery is all you’ve ever known. . . When you’ve been oppressed for four hundred years, oppression has an epigenetic effect. You can’t even imagine a different outcome, a different ending. Parting the Red Sea was simple compared with flipping Israel’s script.


"Just a few weeks after their miraculous deliverance, the Israelites started complaining about the manna. If I remember correctly, manna was a miracle. The Israelites were complaining about a miracle! Unbelievable, right? Not so fast. We fall into the same trap. Isn’t marriage miraculous? Children? The human body? The human mind? I bet you’ve filed a few complaints about each of those."

He continues, "The nation of Israel filed this official complaint: 'We remember the fish we ate freely in Egypt and without cost, the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. (Numbers 11:5 AMPC) Seriously? It was free because you weren’t. Israel’s problem—our problem—is selective memory. If you remember wrong, it’s downright debilitating."

He then says, "When it comes to historiography, historical revisionism is the practice of reinterpreting past events. We need to put this into practice in our personal lives by remembering things the right way. How? From the far side of the cross! From the far side of the empty tomb! You aren’t defined by the things you’ve done wrong. You are defined by what Christ did right—His righteousness. Jesus didn’t just break the curse at Calvary’s cross; He flipped the script on sin and death forever."

And that's the truth, isn't it?

Yes, yes!





 



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

“There’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.”

A thought by Bob Goff from his book, Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People ( p. 41). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)   Have you ever built a sand castle or maybe a Lego castle?   Have you? Bob says, “We actually build castles all the time, out of our jobs and our families and the things we’ve purchased. Sometimes we even make them out of each other. Some of these castles are impressive too. Lots of people come to admire what we’ve built over the course of our lives and tell us what great castles we have. But Jesus told His friends we weren’t supposed to spend our lives building castles. He said He wanted us to build a kingdom, and there’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.” Bob goes on, “You see, castles have moats to keep creepy people out, but kingdoms have bridges to let everyone in. Castles have dungeons for people who ha...
Post a Comment
Read more

“When you understand that life is a test, you realize that nothing is insignificant in your life.”

A thought by Rick Warren, (2012-10-23) from his book, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? (Purpose Driven Life, The) (p. 57). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. To realize that from God’s perspective life is a test goes a long way in determining how you handle your life.   It is important to see that in testing your character is both developed and revealed.   Rick goes on to say that “even the smallest incident has significance for your character development. Every day is an important day, and every second is a growth opportunity to deepen your character, to demonstrate love, or to depend on God.” So there is a God purpose behind each situation in your life.   Even the bad ones are there to strengthen you and develop you.   You see those bad situations are really good ones because they are there for your good. I start each day with a reminder that God is good.   Not every situation that is going to come in my day is good but because G...
Post a Comment
Read more

“What areas of my personality, background, and physical appearance am I struggling to accept?”

A thought by Rick Warren, (2012-10-23) from his book, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? (Purpose Driven Life, The) (p. 35). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. Rick posed this question at the end of his chapter, You Are Not an Accident.   In this chapter he deals with the fact that God created you the way you are with a purpose.   In other words you are not an accident.   I am also reading the Apostle John’s view of Jesus and what He said and did while He was here on earth.   In the beginning of Chapter 9 there is a story about a blind man.   And the disciples who were with Him asked Him a good question, “Who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind? ”   Have you ever asked the same thing about something in you that you don’t like?   Like that characteristic is a curse or something.   Society has set a standard that is not a standard of God.   Remember, He created you and you are not an accident. Je...
Post a Comment
Read more