A Lesson In Motivation

 "I don't measure a mans success by how high he climbs but by how high he bounces once he hits bottom"

~General George S Patton, U.S. Third Army~ 

I that I'm not the only one this has happened to.  Yet, this week it certainly felt that way.  Those times when circumstances force us to take action one way or another.  If we heed the call we accomplish a goal.  But if we put it on the back burner we may just be overwhelmed by our circumstances.  Nobody enjoys being pushed into a corner, I get it.  Your car has that rusty floorboard that you've been putting off fixing forever.  Then one day you notice the floor is no longer there...decision time.  Do you shirk your chores and continue to put it off, or do you fix the problem?  The wiring in your refrigerator has gone haywire.  You keep telling yourself that it's an easy fix, yet you continually ignore the task.  Then, one morning you wake up to a pool of water on the kitchen floor.  Suddenly, what may have been a easy fix is something that may cost a large amount of money.  Don't spend your time cursing the refrigerator, it's an inanimate object void of feelings or emotions.  The bigger question I would be asking is, why didn't fix it back then?  It always surprised me, when these obstacles would appear in my own life, just how many times that I would get upset with God for allowing such things.  Really?  First off, let me clear the air about God.  God is not a overseer whose only task is to sit on His heavenly throne and watch over us.  This is part of the old mainstream church paradigm, which doesn't work too well here.  Also, God has given each of us the ability to choose.  This is a good thing, I mean, God definitely didn't want mindless robots as followers.  These kinds of people are better suited as democrats.  So, if the Father has given us that unique ability to choose how we live our lives, how is it Gods fault when things go south?  Now, I believe that God ALLOWS things to happen in our lives, but we are the ones who choose how to deal with them.  Anti church people have used the same, tired old argument for years.  Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?  I cannot answer that, but what I can say is, why don't good people make better decisions?  Yeah, I know, not a popular train of thought.  Do you suppose that God allows situations in our lives which will present us the opportunity to choose?  The kid at the party who is suddenly pressured into drinking a beer.  The driver in a hurry who is tempted to drive through that stop sign.  What will your choice be?  

"You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give it to you." 

John  15: 16 NKJV 

I've spent a lot of time here on our ability to choose, but where is God in all of this?  Well, He's in the same place He's always been, living in us {John 17:21}.  The apostle Paul also reminds us of this truth in Galatians {Galatians 2:20}.  Therefore, if we believe that Christ is in us, are we to believe that we are somehow separate from God?  If God indeed is the creator of all that we see, is there anything we experience which can be classified as a random event?  Absolutely not.  For there is nothing which has ever or will happen in our lives that God does not have intimate knowledge of.  So why does He allow circumstances in our lives?  Like I said, choices.  I was faced with a few choices this week resulting from things I have let sit on the back burner for too long.  Apparently, Jesus decided the time had come for some changes...choices.  Is this somehow a motivational kick in the butt from Jesus?  Perhaps, but I am presented with the same choices another in my situation would have to make.  Am I somehow being punished for not carrying out good choices?  No, that's the old church paradigm.  What Jesus is doing is tapping me on the shoulder to remind me that it's decision time.  What will I choose?  One thing is certain, no matter what choice I make Jesus will remain in me as He always has.  

"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."  

Galatians 2: 20 NKJV 

~Scott~