Pastor Wayne is back in Hawaii after an unexpected yet urgent medical procedure at Stanford Medical Center in California. After 3.5 hours of surgery to address three major blockages in his heart with stents to open up the passages, he spent time in Oregon with his family recovering and resting and is finally back home here in Hawaii. One of the contributing factors to Pastor Wayne’s health issues is the amount of stress and strain he undergoes each week preparing for the multiple services each weekend. As part of his blood pressure management program to keep it from getting any worse, Pastor Wayne is optimizing his schedule to lower the pace at which he has been running.
One of the approaches being taken to help Pastor Wayne address his schedule is for him to pre-record some or parts of his messages and just emcee them on the weekend rather than deliver it five times over two days. Today’s message is the first in a series of four messages that Pastor Wayne will be preparing on things the Bible teaches us that we must do for ourselves.
The Bible teaches us that there are things that we need to do for ourselves for the purposes of godliness, for example: to humble yourself, to encourage yourself, and to discipline yourself. Today I want to talk about disciplining yourself for the purposes of godliness. So often nowadays, people make decisions at the wrong time and the results are disastrous. We fall in love and get married but when things get tough, we break-up too early because we just can’t see our way out of what seems like a bad situation. Sometimes we have a friendship that becomes strained and rather than work our way through it, we avoid the other person and let the friendship die. And even with family, sometimes a misspoken word or misunderstood gesture can drive a wedge in family relations or cause a rift.
So often we become discouraged about things and find ourselves in situations where we feel we need to make a decision in order to move on. However, Paul talks to us about when we should make decisions: when you’re clear-headed and close to God. If you make all your decisions when you’re discouraged, discontented, lonely, or mad, what would life look like? If you’re sad, you’ll make sad decisions. If you’re mad, you’ll make mad decisions. And if you’re discouraged, you’ll make discouraged decisions. The Bible talks about making life’s important decisions when you are clear-headed and close to God.
Sometimes you’ll feel cornered in life and you’ll need to do some things for yourself. Sometimes you’ll feel like you just don’t have a choice on matters but having a few basics down can really make a difference in your decision-making. The Bible teaches you to discipline yourself for the purposes of godliness.
As you know, I was in California recently and while there, I realized that I can’t do without a GPS (global positioning [navigation] system). The GPS will bring all the powers of the global positioning system to your assistance to help you find a location however there is one critical thing you must do in order to make that happen: you need to know where you want to go and be able to plug that information into the system. You must do that before you’ll be able to reap the benefits of the system.
Similarly with God, in order for us to unleash all of heaven’s powers in our lives to give us the preferred future and life that we hope for, we need to plug something into the system. But what? We must know what our preferred future and life is to be and plug godliness into the equation in order for us to receive the assistance of heaven in obtaining that life that we want. Like with GPS, when we know what our intended or preferred end destination is (i.e., the life God wants and intends for us, according to His will), then all of heaven’s powers will come to bear to help us reach that destination and future.
Knowing what your preferred future or life is – that you determined when you were clear-headed and close to God, not when you were discouraged or disheartened – is key to being able to attain it. To that end, let me encourage you to write it down. Determine what your preferred future is for your marriage, your family, and your life and write it down so you can reference it in times of confusion or discouragement.
The book of Habakkuk talks about what we should do in times of discouragement. In that kind of time, God tells Habbakkuk, "Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it” (Hab. 2:2). When unfortunate times, we often have the feeling that good times (or the preferred life) will never come, but God promises that it will. It is faith in God which makes us believe there is light at the end of the tunnel. It is “the light at the end of the tunnel” which helps us make it through. The lesson here being: Do not rely on your ability to make good decisions during bad times to determine your future but rather record your goals while you are clear-headed and close to God so you can fall back to it during discontent times with hope that transcends your current situation.
You don’t want to make life’s important decisions in those times – with those [negative] frames of reference. Rather, establish your coordinates for life, family, and friends when you’re at your best – when you’re clear-headed and close to God – and write it down so you can reference it in lesser times, confidence and hope that this is what you want and should do even though you don’t feel like it at the time.
So when are we clear-headed and close to God? When we are actively doing devotions we are conversing with God. When we read the Bible, we are opening ourselves up for God’s breathed, inspired words to enter our hearts and mind…to fill our souls. When we journal, we process through the words and capture the lessons that God wants us to learn and we consider how to apply them to our lives. When we do devotions using the acrostic SOAP (scripture, observation, application, and prayer), we hear what God wants for us and we are close to His will. Use your devotional times to discern God’s preference for your life, family, and friends and write it down!
Then, when you are not in a good state of mind to make life decisions because of the discouragement or disheartenment, discipline yourself to follow the plan that you recorded when you were at your best for the best life that God has in store for you. When you have that “best life” plan that you can rely on, you can run with hope that you’ll be right on the money and you won’t miss the bus or the beat.
Don’t make decisions when you’re discouraged, depressed, or overwhelmed with what life seems to be passing your way. Establish your coordinates for God’s best life for you and plug those coordinates into life’s GPS. It will keep that hope alive for you and you can run with hope – even in disappointing times. You do that and you’ll never miss the bus that will take you to your bright future, a future with God.
DISCUSSION SUGGESTIONS
1. Think of some times when you’ve been asked to make decisions when things are not going well. How do you typically determine what to do? Does it usually factor in God’s best or does it typically involve trying to avoid this world’s worse?
2. What do you think God’s best is for your job? Your marriage? Your friendships? Your life?
3. How did you come to understand and determine what God’s best is?
4. Are you easily discouraged or is hope always close by? What affects that and what can you do to improve how you navigate through life to God’s best?
5. What have you learned today and how will you apply it to your life for a better future and a hope?
