Proverbs 15:24 (NLT)
“The path of life leads upward for the wise; they leave the grave behind.”
The Old Testament teaches us that God chose the children of Israel to be His own people for a special purpose. Our Heavenly Father chose Moses to be His servant, and to lead the children of Israel out of the tyranny of Egyptian slavery. Moses told them in Deuteronomy 4:20(NLT), “Remember that the LORD rescued you from the iron-smelting furnace of Egypt in order to make you his very own people and his special possession, which is what you are today.” We learn in the Old Testament that the Promised Land that God promised them was a land of milk and honey because it was bountiful and flourishing, but there were also inhabitants in that land. They were numerous and large in stature. God’s people saw this as a huge obstacle, and rather than pushing forward with faith and confidence in God, many of them refused to trust Him and chose to cower in fear.
Fear is an enemy of our faith in God, and it keeps us from fulfilling His purpose for our lives. Through His Word and the prompting of the Holy Spirit, our Heavenly Father gives us directives and clears the path for us to carry them out, but because the circumstances don’t look optimal and the situation is uncomfortable, we shrink. We regress to old habit patterns that make us comfortable in spiritual infancy. We attempt to renew our subscription to these when life has revealed to us that they are way beyond their expiration date. God’s Word has a remedy for this kind of thinking and behaving. He commands us in Ephesians 4:22-24(ESV), “22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”
When the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they complained incessantly. Numbers 14:1-3(NLT) tells us, “1 Then the whole community began weeping aloud, and they cried all night. 2 Their voices rose in a great chorus of protest against Moses and Aaron. “If only we had died in Egypt, or even here in the wilderness!” they complained. 3 “Why is the LORD taking us to this country only to have us die in battle? Our wives and our little ones will be carried off as plunder! Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?”” They were blatantly ungrateful for all that God had done for them. He delivered them from slavery, parted the Red Sea for them to walk through to freedom, fed them manna from heaven, and caused them to be healthy and whole, but they refused to rally their faith. Even after witnessing God’s insurmountable power on their behalves, they would not place their wholehearted trust in Him.
This should never be said of us. Galatians 3:13(NLT) says, “13 But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”” We must trust God and be deeply thankful for all that He has done for us through Jesus Christ. We must move out of our comfort zones because He’s empowered us through our Lord and Savior to do great things. He has designed life to cooperate with us when we make a move to go higher in our level of spiritual growth. It is the Will of God that we do so, and we should also know that this is not always comfortable. In truth, it is almost always uncomfortable. People and relationships will come into our lives to help us stretch in our faith and love of Christ, but often we don’t see this. We adopt a habit of rejecting anything that doesn’t preserve our comfort zones. If higher blessings are our goal, this is a habit we must release.
To renew our minds is to change the way we think. Our subscription to new blessings never expires, but the time for our old way of operating is over. It’s time to line up our thoughts and feelings with God’s Word so that His love is our great motivation for all things. Proverbs 15:24 reminds us that the path of life leads upward. We don’t have the time or luxury to continually reach back for our comfort zones. Genesis 19:26 tells us that Lot’s wife tried to do this, and she turned into a pillar of salt. Our powerful Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, reminds us in Luke 17 not to follow her example. He tells us in Luke 17:33(NLT), “If you cling to your life, you will lose it, and if you let your life go, you will save it.” We must have unwavering faith in God and not be afraid to leap when He says leap.
He told His people in Isaiah 43:19 (NLT) “For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.” Our Heavenly Father never changes but He is always allowing our eyes to see wonderful dimensions of His grace and power that we haven’t seen before. He always wants to do something new in our lives, but if we’re not changing, our circumstances will remain the same. We must develop the endurance, patience, and faith that spiritual maturity in Christ requires. When we do, we’ll be prepared to embrace the newness that God has in store for us. ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Don’t Renew Your Expired Subscription”, written by KLizzie, edited by Reverend Fran Mack, for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2024. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.