Let us make an assumption that if our lives were on a line chart or graph we would constantly be moving in one direction or the other as each day passes. Try to get that visual as we get started today. Straight line an arrow on each end of the line pointing towards an unknown end, and then several key events plotted along the line representing milestones that have occurred throughout your journey in life. Usually on this particular graph there is a zero in the middle and the numbers usually increase as you move to the right or they move the negative zone as you move towards the left. Ample description for our purposes today.
Now think about what moves us along life's line chart one direction or the other, would it be safe to say positive choices equal a move to the right end of the spectrum, and concurrently not so good decisions would move us to the left or negative side of the equation. Simplistic as this may sound, we go about our lives with the idea in mind that the things we do don't really have an impact on our lives now or in the future. Well if the data we collect from studying a graph such as this is correct, the simple math of the matter would provide a different response.
As we delve in deeper please note that I am in no way judging anyone with this simple observation, why truth be told, I would probably be the one with the largest variance of plots on the line if it came down to a statistical count anyway. So, how do we move on life's line graph? In life, choices either move us closer to God or adversely further away from God. That old saying "what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger" aptly applies here. Whatever happens to us, is in no way greater than He who is in us! (I John 4:4)
What we perceive as good, or what we deem as bad is all relative in the scope of which direction we are moving on the spectrum of closer to God or vice versa. On the surface, nobody would say that Joseph being thrown into a pit and then sold off into slavery by his brothers was a good thing to have happen in your life. Add being lied about by his boss’s wife and then imprisonment, and it would be hard to say the events in Joseph's life were aiding him in moving closer to God, but they did. Joseph trusted that God had a plan, although he didn't understand the plan, He believed in the One that created the plan. Eventually, Joseph's trust and faith moved him to the place where God had intended Joseph to be, second in command of Egypt and all the lands it controlled. Would it not be fair to say that Joseph's decision to stay the course and continue to serve God moved him to the right of the line graph closer to God and provided Joseph with the strength to carry on and move forward or to the right of the line graph?
Yet not everyone on their line graph of life moves in the right direction. Consider Cain, son of Adam and Eve, living in the lap of creation, yet jealous of his own brother Able. Cain's jealousy stemmed from Able's sacrifice to God of a lamb, whereas Cain had brought crops to be sacrificed. God preferred the sacrifice of the lamb and the rest of the story is what it is. Cain's choice to get angry and take revenge out on Able caused Cain a lifetime of pain and struggle, moving him further away from God, and ultimately passing that legacy on to his posterity.
The bottom line is in each of these scenarios the Bible character had a choice to make, and that choice either pulled them away from God and His plan for their life, or the person gravitated closer to God and in essence became more like God. Choices move us one way or the other on our own line chart. As we make the decision to spend more time in God's Holy Bible reading, reflecting, and studying we are naturally going to move towards God, it will happen without you even really trying. Thus, it is safe to say that as we move our lives away from God or if we never strive to know God, and we put our efforts into pleasing self over others, we move further away from Him.
Life is one choice after another. How you look at adversity and affliction in your life is a choice that will either draw you closer to God, or it can completely do the opposite and pull you down into a pit of despair and a landslide of destructive choices. The good part is the choice is yours. Nobody said life was going to be easy, matter of fact struggles are what make us stronger if we make the choice to grow in our conflicts instead of submitting to the burden of conflict and moving ourselves further away from the only one that can save us from ourselves and the negative mental state we are headed towards.
As we are preparing to start a new year take a moment to verify where you are on your line chart of life. After self-reflecting, if you don't like where you are on the spectrum of life, you and only you can make that change. Choose life, choose God, and make a concerted effort to move closer to God. Move to the light of hope and you'll find yourself on the right end of your life's line chart.
Looking forward to the New Year 2021!
Coach Carter
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