Our best-laid plans won’t survive the first contact with reality. When life punches us in the gut, our actions will default to the level of our training. We need an action system to prevent us from freezing and to keep us moving when adversity strikes. How do you train to take life’s punches? Do you have a system to operate within? What worldview is your action system based upon?
Today, we get so many ideas thrown at us about what goals we should have and how to plan to live our lives. Some of these ideas seem pretty good, but they are not our own. They might feel right, but deep inside, we know there is something else we should be doing in life. That’s because we all have a God-given calling, and until we find it, we won’t be able to experience the fullness of life.
Unlike the Bible’s story, the narratives of other worldviews fail to connect with reality, which is why goals and plans based on them ultimately fall short. What I love about the Bible is that its story connects with our personal story at our point of deepest need. Its storyline connects us to our roots, whether we know it or not. It affirms a longing we all have, a longing to know our Creator. When we set our affections on something that cannot satisfy, demanding of them something that only God can provide, we lose the glory of being fully human, which exposes the idolatry of our hearts.
To put it another way, idols are anything in our life – including goals and plans – we love, want, treasure, or pursue more than oneness with the Holy Spirit. When we allow anything to take precedence over that relationship, even something we might consider good, the results can be harmful or even disastrous. The reality is that human beings can make idols of just about anything, and these idols are often associated with a sense of identity or worth.
This is why we need an action system rooted in the Biblical narrative. Such a system operates within the power of the Holy Spirit and requires Prayer, Practice, and Patience. Let’s call this God’s PPP Loan because it’s power on loan from God. How do we get the loan? It’s only possible with forgiveness.
Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, “how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.” (Matthew 18:21-22)
We have to forgive as God has forgiven us. It not easy, but necessary. If we want an action system that equips us for reality and connects us to our deepest need, we need to master the forgiveness of other people. It is the only system with the proper foundation to affirm the longing to know our Creator. It prevents us from freezing, keeps us moving when adversity strikes and equips us to experience the fullness of life as we were intended to have. If you’d like a coach and helper to train within such a system then click here: #TheSystem
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34).
Happy Easter.
MindWolves 