One of the reasons we don't grow is that we don't assess. We just kind of hope growth will happen. We don't know how we are doing, don't know our own barriers, don't know what we need to do next--because we don't assess.
A caveat: We don't make ourselves grow, but we do have a lot to do with removing the barriers to growth. We are our own lid.
So if you looked at Psalm 23, arguably one of the most famous passages in the entire Bible, as a tool for diagnosing your barriers to the growth God means for you, what would it tell you?
Verses 1-2: Are you going so fast there is no time to be led to still waters or green pastures so that your soul is restored?
Verse 3: Are you so fixed on your path that God couldn't offer a course correction to a new (or renewed) one filled with right living and relationships?
Verse 4: Are you so gripped with fear that you are overwhelmed by constant nagging thoughts about "the worst that could happen"?
Verse 5: Are your enemies (people, things, circumstances) so in front of you, so in your field of vision that you can't imagine any sort of restfulness in the middle of them? Are they a reason, for you, of a scarcity mentality that keeps you from seeing God's abundance?
Verse 6: Do you believe God's love, mercy and goodness are in such short supply that most of your life will need to be lived with neglect, striving and proof of your existence...and that experiences of love, mercy and goodness will be few and far between rather than the things that chase you every day?
Good news. Figure out your barrier, and turn to the Lord who is a shepherd able to lead sheep like you and me through any seemingly insurmountable barrier. Or as the Psalmist said it:
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. That's something to write on a life, not a tombstone.
--Scott
No comments:
Post a Comment