Burn the Ships Purity 786

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning! Today's photo of pelicans skimming the surface of the surf beneath— underneath— as the sun rises from a stand of clouds on the horizon comes to us from a friend who rose early to capture this scene at Webasso Beach in Florida on July 16th. Well, it is Monday again, and as the sun rises on a new work week, I am marveling over how our movement forward in life also results in the familiar things of the past being left behind. As we put our best foot forward on the path of Christian discipleship— and honestly, whatever path you are on— we make decisions that will, perhaps unwittingly or completely intentionally, fundamentally change our lives, and sometimes familiar elements from our past will no longer be familiar. As I thought about moving, moving through, as I thought about moving into the, about this aspect, about moving into the future, yikes, I thought of the of the advice to not burn your bridges, which advises against forgetting about where you came from, or from stepping on people on the way up, or offending people while you were on the way out. Because honestly, we don't know where— what the future will hold and shouldn't cut ourselves off from the people, places, and things of the past that helped us to get where we are. As I have recently transitioned to a new job function reporting location church home and ministry, there were moments in my journey where I was tempted to celebrate the new changes in a way that may have revealed my relief over leaving behind certain aspects of my previous situations that weren't perfect. And the excitement of new things, the enemy brought to mind the things that in those previous situations that were negative, and he was silent, uh, in reminding me of all the good things I enjoyed in the places I was before. The enemy tempted me to show my joy over new things in a way that could have offended people that I had no offense against. Look at who is so happy to go. He must have really hated it there. That is simply a message that was completely untrue and what I did not want to inadvertently send to people. I appreciated having uh, you know, to send to the people I appreciated having in my life. But luckily, the Lord is with me via the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit since I put my faith in Jesus Christ. And he and the study of the word of God have taught me to be a lot wiser than I was in the past. And I realized that although I have been blessed to move into new things, I was perfectly content with where I was, even if there may have been some imperfect aspects of, or difficult people, that were in those old places. That's the most I will say about that. I'll keep it real. Not everything was perfect in my former places, but it doesn't mean that I wouldn't or couldn't be content in going back to them tomorrow. I didn't burn any bridges, I don't think, although I guess it's possible that the mere fact that I left could be enough to offend some people. All the moves I have made were either better for me professionally or personally, and were made after a considerable time of contemplations and through a period of prayer, and were only made when I felt that God was subtly directing me to go the way I have followed. Of course, I don't know what the future holds, and it is completely possible that the Lord will direct my path right back to some of the former things. Places and people that I have walked away from. So you don't act like a jerk on the way out the door. You don't burn bridges. The phrase, at least in my mind, has a negative connotation. But let's face it, while we may not want to leave a path of charred earth in our wake, some of the decisions we make on our journey through life will lead us to a whole new world that may result in never going back to the former things. This whole new world concept made me think of the phrase "burn the ships" and the song by King Country whose lyrics say, "Burn the ships, cut the ties, send a flare into the night, say a prayer, turn the tide, dry your tears and wave goodbye, step into a new day, we can rise up from the dust and walk away, we can dance upon our heartache, yeah." So light a match, leave the past, burn the ships, and don't look back. Hey, not burning bridges, okay? Um, but brother and sister, sometimes the journey God has put you on puts you on a crossroads where you can make a decision to go to a whole new world. The question is, will you take the path to a new world? And if you do, what does that mean? How do you commit yourself to a path that is unlike anything you have ever done before? You burn the ships. In 1519, Cortés led a Spanish expedition to Mexico. Realizing that his crew was already exhausted from the long sea journey, he had to motivate them to succeed in the New World. So, he ordered the scuttling of the ships they arrived in. They burned the ships, not because they hated them. They burn the ships to motivate them to succeed in their new endeavor by looking forward, by not looking back, and by intentionally making it difficult for them to return to their old lives. Burn— burning the ships, or yeah, burning the ships, your ships or boats, means doing something that makes it impossible for yourself to turn back, especially if it is done willfully and without necessity. Burning your ship doesn't necessarily have to be as dramatic or extreme as what Cortés did. In fact, Cortés' ruthless conquest of Mexico is not the model we want to follow. Um, we follow God the Father, the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. But when we answer the call of God on our lives, uh, put our faith in Christ and begin walking in the Spirit, We shouldn't be surprised when we are given opportunities that will call us to leave behind what's familiar and to pursue something that could lead to the good for ourselves and others. Whether it's a new career path, a new church, or a new ministry, we can't really be surprised when the Lord responds to our heart's cry to "send me" when we get the invitations to be sent. Um, it's like God is testing our faith and saying, here's your opportunity, what are you going to do with it? Oh yeah, I know it's different. Will you trust me as I help you to make all things new in your life? Will you be bold and courageous? Will you? Now listen, before you run into this— into the office and quit your job, make sure you are listening to the voice of the Lord. Seek his wisdom and guidance and follow the path that he would have you take. We, we always try to be wise and follow his leadings and do so in a manner where we are good, faithful, kind, gentle, patient, loving, and self-controlled. We don't burn bridges by being unkind, ungrateful, rude, or unappreciative towards those we have walked with but are being separated from in our voyage to the new world God directs us to. Although Abraham was called to follow God into the wilderness and to leave his family behind, he didn't say, "See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya." At least not in the— at least that's not recorded in scripture. But we might need to burn the ships, we— so we don't look back. We might have to say goodbye to even the good things in our past to say hello to the new things in our future. So keep walking and talking with God. He only wants what's good for us, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't have places for us to go and new people to talk to and share our lives with. Hey, in Christ, like the Nina Simone song says, it's a new dawn, it's a new day, and it's a new life. So remind yourself to do what Jesus would do and be kind and be bold, but follow your Heavenly Father's direction. To the new world he has for you. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is 1 Timothy 6:17, and it says, teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust, their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. In today's verse, we are encouraged to not trust in the riches of this world, uh, and to trust in God for all we need for our enjoyment. The state of our post-Christian society in America shows us that those who are spiritually blind, uh, don't see a need for a relationship with God. In my interactions with some non-believers, I've got the impression that because they have some degree of financial security, they believe they don't need God. Because they are providing for themselves. They are paying— they are proud because they're paying the bills and have a good life, so they claim that they don't need what God has to offer. They turn a blind eye to the big spiritual questions of life and death by either claiming a belief of no afterlife, some form of reincarnation, or a nebulous, non-demanding God of their own creation that will accept all into heaven, or at least "good people" like them, without any conditions or discernible relationship with him. But mostly their focus was on the here and now, the things they can buy, the places they can go, the rich experiences they can have because of the money that their hard work or cleverness could provide. Rather than seeking the Lord, they are enjoying and trusting in the money that they make, that make their lives, uh, their good lives possible. Sorry, I'm not advocating poverty here. Uh, the Lord provides us with the ability to work and provide for ourselves, and we are to be good stewards of what we have been entrusted with to provide for ourselves and our families. And if we are given the opportunity to enjoy prosperity, we shouldn't feel guilty about it. But we shouldn't forsake a relationship with God because of money. Money can't— won't last forever. Our lives on earth are finite, and even if our fortunes are vast, our lives will expire and we won't benefit from our vast reserves of wealth in the afterlife. Only having peace with God through faith in Jesus Christ gives us a place prepared for us in God's kingdom. So we should not tire ourselves out, uh, ourselves by chasing after riches and by putting our trust in our money rather than God. Um, God is eternal and he is the only one who can give us the security that never runs out and can't be spent. So trust in the one who can give us all we need for our enjoyment and the one who can give us life everlasting. Trust in God by putting your faith in in Jesus and following where the Holy Spirit leads. As always, I invite all to go to mtforchrist.org, where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from Clinton Arnold's Powers of Darkness, and, uh, we're not— we're in this— we're in chapter 8, and they're talking about, um, our new identity And today's heading is entitled "In Christ." And so if you want to know what that's about, and there's also a section called "Joined to Christ and to One Another." So if you want to know what "in Christ" means and how we're joined, you know, to him and one another, go to mt4christ.org and read the bottom of our blog post. Basically, that will have Clinton Arnold's resource there for your enjoyment and a vacation. Well, it is Monday and there's a new world on the horizon. Well, at least a new work week. It might be the status quo for most of us, but there are many things happening and people in my life, family and friends, that, you know, they're overcoming things or they're walking into new things. And it just shows that, uh, you know, nothing stays the same on this earth. Um, but the, the thing is, we can have peace in our Lord, um, who never changes. Um, so even though we're going, you know, we transition through lives, we grow older, we, we go from one job to another, we go through illnesses and, and, and sicknesses and different relationships, even though all that changes, God remains. And he might, you know, in our journey to follow him and be faithful to his plan for our life, he might call us into things we don't expect. I can really testify to all the things that have happened in my faith walk that have been unexpected. You know, that— and I won't go into detail on that because it would take too long. But yeah, since I've walked with Christ, since, you know, since saying a prayer in a car to a radio station's gospel message back in 2010, not much has stayed the same, but the Lord has. And even though there was some very difficult periods in my life In the interim, I can honestly say that the Lord has led me from one good thing to another, and he's caused me to grow with each change. And I wouldn't have it any other way. So even though I, you know, said whatever path you're on, I mean, this is the path that leads to life everlasting, the path of Christian discipleship. That starts with your decision to not only, you know, make Jesus your Savior, but to make him your Lord and to follow him and the way you live and where you go. So, and it doesn't mean we're all going to become pastors or, you know, go on the mission field, but We can all represent the kingdom wherever we go by being ourselves and by showing people the God we know, telling them about the fact that God is real and he's alive and that he moves in your life when you come to faith in Christ and you follow him. He really directs your path and he gives you wisdom. When you study his word and ask for it. So that's the path that we've discovered, uh, we fell into, um, that the Lord called us into. And that's why we encourage people to follow it, because it's the— it answers all the questions of life on earth and then the hereafter. So hello, um, It's a good plan, and it's— it provides, uh, great enjoyment, far more than just money can provide. The security of life everlasting is a security that money can't buy. And a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ, you know, really gives you peace on the earth and can give you joy as you burn the ships and move into the new world that He calls you to. And, you know, we will go forward with no fear because even if we get called back to things of the past, as long as the Lord's with us, we can walk through anything. So I encourage people to go and follow the Lord's path. And we, you know, if you're new to it and you don't know what what that's all about, we provide our discipleship classes on the podcast and our YouTube channel, uh, to help with the transition. It was a long path, a lot to learn. And so I've discovered these materials from Freedom in Christ, and we share them. So we, we did a class on Victor Over the Darkness, um, The Bondage Breaker, and Freedom in Christ. They're all available to study. And of course, we recommend the study of God's word to renew your mind and grow and to know what God's will is for your life, you should read his word. So we share our Bible study that we do once a week where we discuss the things of God with Arthur and Susanna Zinkadi. And we just did a new episode last week, or yesterday, for this week, uh, entitled The Silence of God. So sometimes in our walk, God might seem silent. So if you want to hear what we had to say about that go to the podcast or, or the YouTube channel to watch or listen to yesterday's discussion. So that's it for now. Um, but you know, we should always pray, so let's do that. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Even though it's Monday, we rejoice because of the work you have given us to do and the life you've given us to live, and all the people, places, and things that are a part of it. And both in the— in our present and our past and in our future as we look to go forward with you into whatever you have for us to do. Lord, we love you and we trust you. Lord, we're praying, uh, for, for various situations that have been brought to our attention, um, health issues, financial issues, um, transitional issues, lots of things that have been brought to my attention through, through my friends and family and through my church. So the Lord has heard my petitions this morning in terms of those, and I'm praying for the people who are listening for their petitions as well. Lord, we ask you to come alongside our friends who are listening, to guide them and direct them in the path that they're on, and to bless them. With, uh, with your help. So we pray that. And Lord, of course, as always, we pray for you to go with us today. We pray for you to open our eyes to the things of this world that are beautiful and meaningful and that we need to see. Um, we pray for you to direct us in the path that we go today and to best represent you and do the best job we can with the life that you've given us, Lord. We thank you, we praise you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.