Deuteronomy 7:2
Those seven nations are all bigger and stronger than you are. GOD, your God, will turn them over to you and you will conquer them. You must completely destroy tem, offering them up as a holy destruction to God.
The enemies in my life I want to completely destroy: fear, doubt, poverty, laziness, and procrastination.
It’s so easy to tolerate some fear, a little doubt, occasional laziness, and limited procrastination. But each of these is severely limiting my life. Destroying them completely would make a huge difference.
When I think about all these being gone, I immediately have an ugly accuser in my mind hurling insults at me for being proud and arrogant for daring to live without fear and doubt. Fear and doubt keep me humble. That’s the lie I’ve been believing without realizing it. It’s simply not true. Fear and doubt keep me ineffective. No good comes from being stuck. Living my purpose and calling does not make me proud. I’m afraid that it does, but it’s not true. I can live my purpose humbly.
Conquering laziness and procrastination does not mean I will be proud, stuck-up, or stressed out even if other people are who have levels of success that I aspire to. In fact, I can be proud of my lack of accomplishments. I can be proud of my mediocrity the way some people are proud of success by telling myself that I am content with less, I live more dependent on God, I have a “slower” lifestyle.
The truth is I can still have a slower lifestyle while being successful. I can still depend on God while being prosperous. And I can be even more content regardless of my level of success. These either/or mindsets are straight from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They are not from the tree of life.
Staying stuck in mediocrity is not living by the spirit. God does not keep me pushed down, poor, or sick to keep me humble. He has nothing to do with that. In the perfect world He created, He did not make Adam and Eve poor, sick, or confused. He asked only one thing, and that was to rely on Him.
When we come to God, he saves us completely. All at once we are made whole. He does not hold back waiting for us to figure anything out. So stop holding yourself back! He is not interested in me, or you, designing a mediocre life just so we can feel, or look, humble! It’s ridiculous! That’s just a waste of everything He’s given me!
Just saying that gives me twinges of fear of being proud by saying I have been given anything. But He has given me much. Denying it is ludicrous. It makes me stupid, not humble. Some people in church do call that humility, and they praise that attitude. “She doesn’t even realize how talented she is”. How on earth is that a good thing? If she doesn’t know, then how is she to give her gift to God and be used by Him? Deep down we have to know how contradictory that thinking is, and so we develop double-minded thinking and theologies. I’m ready to ditch mine. How about you?