Burn the ships!

Albert Einstein once said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different outcome.”  

In regards, to discipleship, I like to rephrase this quote.  “The definition of Christian insanity is a born-again believer who identifies himself as a sinner while expecting to be a holy disciple.”

I’ve been there.  My Christian friends have been there.  But how long will it take others to wake up and realize they are there too? 

For a period-of-time, I had a multiple personality disorder.  It was called thinking as a sinner while trying to be

Christian.  Yes, I believed in Jesus as my savior but if the police arrested me for being a Christian there wouldn’t be any evidence to convict me. Since my dominant thoughts drove my heart, I was still led by all the nasty business of the secular world.  Sure, I knew scripture, but it never lived in my heart. Let’s be honest, Satan knows scripture better than anyone else and look what happen to him.

Then one day the Holy Spirit drove an arrow into my heart.  It came from the Passion translation where Jesus said, “But if you live in life-union with me and if my words live powerfully within you—then you can ask whatever you desire, and it will be done.” John 15:7

There is was.  I was called to live in life union with Jesus.  More still, his words must live powerfully in my heart.  The message came clear, it was time to burn the ships. 

To succeed we must burn the ships of our past.

In 1519, Captain Hernán Cortés landed in Veracruz to begin his great conquest.  Based on previous experience, Cortés knew there could be no going backwards. So, he burned his ships. By cutting off the past, Cortés compelled his men to embrace the future as their only hope.  Instead of letting their past shape their present, he channeled the future to shape their present.  Cortés had his men envision the reality of a hopeful future. It worked!  They saw themselves as conquerors and acted like ones.

 It brought-to-mind Romans 12:2;

Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in his eyes. Romans 12:2 (TPT)

 As an ineffective Christian I identified myself as a past sinner and used this dead identity to shape my Christian present life.  I needed to burn the ships of my destructive thinking.  No longer did I identify myself as a sinner.  I was a friend of Jesus set apart from the world; a saint. I saw my future identity as a child of God and with the help of the Holy Spirit my future vision shaped into my present reality. I saw myself as a friend of Jesus who delighted in obeying His Word because it was rooted in love and mercy. So I thought like a saint. I behaved like a saint. At the moment,  I may not be a perfect saint, but the train has left the station. 

So, I burned the ships from my past and embraced the future of my beloved savior. I was driven by his love and love poured through me.  No longer will I accept the the fear mongering lies of this world.  Rather I will dwell in His Word so His living streams of water can fill my mind, shape my thoughts, and transform my heart.

We must all burn the ships of our past thinking, and fully embrace the truth that our future with Jesus is within us today. Be His friend now. Be a saint!

Dead or Alive: Who Can Tell?

READ: Romans 8:5-8

My grandfather is dead. Physically dead. Embalmed, buried, resting under a tombstone. If I dug him up, heaved him over my shoulder, and the two of us came to visit you, would you have a hard time telling who’s alive and who’s dead?

If you can see, smell, touch, or hear, then no. There’s a big difference between alive and dead!

Ephesians 2 says that we were dead in our sins, gratifying the cravings of our flesh, when God made us alive with Christ. Spiritually dead. Spiritually alive. Shouldn’t there be a big difference?

Yet how often we hear, “You’re a Christian? I’ve known you for years. I didn’t know you were a Christian!” “Yep, go to church every Sunday. Don’t feel the need to broadcast it, though. It’s more of a personal thing for me.”

We are physically alive. We don’t need to broadcast it. It’s not a personal thing. We’re alive. You see us and you know.

We who have been saved by God’s grace are spiritually alive in Christ. When people see us, they should know.

Yet often they don’t. Why is that? Because we still live much of our lives gratifying the cravings of our flesh, following our selfish desires and caring nothing for the desires of God. Sure, we believe in Christ and want salvation and blessings, but our minds are set on ourselves, not on what the Spirit desires. We don’t look different because we aren’t different. If the mind governed by the flesh is death, we’re just dead people being propped up by our church friends and made to look alive.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2)

Follow that will—the will of God, the desires of the Spirit—and you will appear very alive indeed!