11.20.24 ~ Fighting the Old or Building the New?
Good morning!
Lekh Lekha requires growth and growth requires change. Change is uncomfortable and scary for most people. We tend to crave what is familiar; what’s safe, stable, and known; aka reverting back to our default settings. Too often, people even fear change that would clearly improve their situation in life or standard of living. Examples might include people who stay in abusive relationships, ex-convicts who commit crimes simply to return to the familiar and “comfortable” walls of prison, and people who stay in jobs they detest for years on end, constantly dreading Mondays. Change is obviously going to happen all around us regardless of whether we welcome it or not, so why do we resist it? Because we have a fear of the unknown. Hence, as we've seen in our studies over the years, the children of Israel constantly desired to go back to Egypt (Ex. 16:3; 17:3; Num. 11:20; 14:2-4; etc.) after their liberation (Ex. 13:14; 16:6; 18:1; 20:2; Lev. 22:33; etc.).
Zig Ziglar, of blessed memory, tells the story of a man who was walking down the sidewalk one day and heard a dog moaning and howling as he approached a home. The dog seemed to be in significant pain. He noticed one man in a rocking chair and several others sitting on a porch swing, but they didn’t seem to be at all concerned with the dog’s situation. As he continued past the house, the moaning and howling continued. As the man got a few steps past the house, he stopped and then walked back to the front gate. He hollered over the fence to the man in the rocking chair, “Excuse me; it seems like your dog is in a lot of pain. What’s wrong with him?” In a slow drawl, the man answered, “He’s lying on a nail.” Confused, the man on the sidewalk asked, “Well, why doesn’t he just move?” The man on the porch paused for a moment, and then responded, “Well, I reckon it don’t hurt enough yet.”
Lekh Lekha is all about getting off that nail! Unfortunately, too many lay too long on the nails in our lives...those situations that make us uncomfortable where we are, but yet, not motivated enough to leave the familiarity of our present situation? Which begs me to ask the question, 'what nails are you lying on'?
In addition to fear of the unknown, we resist change because we find security in routines that are familiar. We’ve become emotionally connected to an old way of doing things because we aren’t convinced of the benefits of making a change, or because we mistrust the source of the change (a parent, a boss, a particular politician, etc.).
Like the physical, spiritual, emotional, relational and financial earthquakes around the world, change affects our lives in a similar way. When we resist change, we’re like a fault line that refuses to move. Instead, we allow incredible pressure to build until we can’t resist the change any longer. Those changes feel significant, dramatic, and most uncomfortable. They’re huge, unwelcome changes. Eventually, the new situation begins to feel normal and we’ll likely desire to stay in that place, so we stay there until unbearable pressure creates the next major—and unwelcome—shift in our lives. It's not a pleasant cycle!
A healthier approach to change is to drop our resistance. Be like the fault line that easily and regularly moves, causing small, manageable tremors in our life. How do we do this? Enquiring minds want to know... The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new (Rev. 21:5; Isa. 42:9; 43:19; 2 Cor.5:17). It's been adequately said that you cannot become what you want by remaining what you are. And, if I keep doing what I've always done, I'm going to get the same results I've always gotten.… metamorphosis is required from the inside out (Rom. 12:1,2).
Policies change, tactics change, products change. Change is all around us. Whether or not a particular change is viewed as bad or good is a matter of perspective and interpretation.
One's perception of events defines their meaning and impact in many ways. Instead of automatically looking for and resisting the potential pain involved in change (whether voluntary or involuntary), practice searching instead for the positive that can come out of each situation. God's ultimate goal is that we, individually and collectively, would be conformed to the image of His dear Son, Yeshua (Rom. 8:29; Jn. 17:16-23; 1 Cor. 15:49; Phil. 3:21; 1 Jn. 3:2; Eph. 4:14-16).
If nothing ever changed, there would be no butterflies! (Rom. 12:1,2; Eze. 18:31; 36:26; Eph. 4:22-24; Col. 3:10).
Have a great middle of the week!
Shalom!
Zig Ziglar, of blessed memory, tells the story of a man who was walking down the sidewalk one day and heard a dog moaning and howling as he approached a home. The dog seemed to be in significant pain. He noticed one man in a rocking chair and several others sitting on a porch swing, but they didn’t seem to be at all concerned with the dog’s situation. As he continued past the house, the moaning and howling continued. As the man got a few steps past the house, he stopped and then walked back to the front gate. He hollered over the fence to the man in the rocking chair, “Excuse me; it seems like your dog is in a lot of pain. What’s wrong with him?” In a slow drawl, the man answered, “He’s lying on a nail.” Confused, the man on the sidewalk asked, “Well, why doesn’t he just move?” The man on the porch paused for a moment, and then responded, “Well, I reckon it don’t hurt enough yet.”
Lekh Lekha is all about getting off that nail! Unfortunately, too many lay too long on the nails in our lives...those situations that make us uncomfortable where we are, but yet, not motivated enough to leave the familiarity of our present situation? Which begs me to ask the question, 'what nails are you lying on'?
In addition to fear of the unknown, we resist change because we find security in routines that are familiar. We’ve become emotionally connected to an old way of doing things because we aren’t convinced of the benefits of making a change, or because we mistrust the source of the change (a parent, a boss, a particular politician, etc.).
Like the physical, spiritual, emotional, relational and financial earthquakes around the world, change affects our lives in a similar way. When we resist change, we’re like a fault line that refuses to move. Instead, we allow incredible pressure to build until we can’t resist the change any longer. Those changes feel significant, dramatic, and most uncomfortable. They’re huge, unwelcome changes. Eventually, the new situation begins to feel normal and we’ll likely desire to stay in that place, so we stay there until unbearable pressure creates the next major—and unwelcome—shift in our lives. It's not a pleasant cycle!
A healthier approach to change is to drop our resistance. Be like the fault line that easily and regularly moves, causing small, manageable tremors in our life. How do we do this? Enquiring minds want to know... The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new (Rev. 21:5; Isa. 42:9; 43:19; 2 Cor.5:17). It's been adequately said that you cannot become what you want by remaining what you are. And, if I keep doing what I've always done, I'm going to get the same results I've always gotten.… metamorphosis is required from the inside out (Rom. 12:1,2).
Policies change, tactics change, products change. Change is all around us. Whether or not a particular change is viewed as bad or good is a matter of perspective and interpretation.
One's perception of events defines their meaning and impact in many ways. Instead of automatically looking for and resisting the potential pain involved in change (whether voluntary or involuntary), practice searching instead for the positive that can come out of each situation. God's ultimate goal is that we, individually and collectively, would be conformed to the image of His dear Son, Yeshua (Rom. 8:29; Jn. 17:16-23; 1 Cor. 15:49; Phil. 3:21; 1 Jn. 3:2; Eph. 4:14-16).
If nothing ever changed, there would be no butterflies! (Rom. 12:1,2; Eze. 18:31; 36:26; Eph. 4:22-24; Col. 3:10).
Have a great middle of the week!
Shalom!
Comments
Post a Comment