What's chasing You?

 

Remember what you are moving away from

Many times we are discontented with where we are in life and that forms the basis for whatever next steps we choose to take. When it is dark and cold, lonely and discouraging, it does you a world of good to remember what it is you are moving away from. Surely you must have been so worked up with being in the state you were in for you to begin the journey to your new life. In those moments when you don’t feel like going on, remember there is a world you need to leave behind you. Do yourself the favor and keep putting one foot in front of the other. As you do that every day, you are moving away from that unpleasant past.

The story is told of how the Jews fared on their journey from Egypt and it has significant lessons for us on why it is important to remember what you are moving away from. Only dogs return to their own vomit. Don’t be like a pig that gets washed and the next minute it wallows in the mud and dirt that was just washed off.

The Jews were so quick to forget the four hundred plus years of slavery they had endured in Egypt. They forgot the Manual labor they had been forced to engage in as strangers in a foreign land. It got lost on them how they had cried out to God for deliverance for years on end. They became irrational in the face of new challenges in the wilderness. For some reason they started thinking they had been better off in Egypt. They entertained the idea of going back to Egypt because of their current challenges. They became blinded to their torment under their masters and could only remember the pots of flesh, cucumbers and many other goodies they had left behind. They even complained about there being no graves for them to be buried in the wilderness. Their minds were so clouded courtesy of their current circumstances that they wouldn’t think clearly. How could they forget all the miracles they had encountered in the course of their supernatural deliverance from Egypt? How could they forget the ten plagues visited upon the Egyptians for their release? How could they forget the parting of the Red Sea and how God destroyed the Egyptian army that was pursuing them? As ridiculous as it sounds, they did.

Here is the deal. We are not so different from them and in many ways we find ourselves in similar circumstances. If we are not careful, we will find ourselves reasoning like the Jews. There is an attachment we develop to the things we are so used to that we require constant reminders that we must leave the past in the past. We must be careful not to amplify our current challenges on the way to our goals above what we moved/are moving from. Though the road might be bumpy and uncomfortable, we must never lose sight of the fact that we are moving away from a past that is better off left behind us. We need to beware of The Stockholm Syndrome. This is the tendency to become so attached to our captors as a way of coping with our captivity that we get to a point where we think that we cannot function away from them.

In your mind, you need a clear picture of what you are trying to get away from. You must see the torment for what it is. You must see the oppression of the past for what it is. Remember the pain you had to live with. Break free from what you are familiar with. Beyond living Egypt, you must come to a point where Egypt leaves you. They say you can take a man from the village but you cannot take the village out of the man. This has to be intentional. You must make a conscious choice to break with the past you are moving away from. Without this, there will be no progress towards your goal.

Are you trying to break a bad habit? Remember what it cost you in the past, it will spur you on to work harder. Are you working on selling more this year than last year? Remember what you couldn’t do because of a limited income last year. Are you struggling to study for an exam? Remember what happened when you failed to study for another one in the past. Find motivation from what you are trying to avoid. Find it from what you are trying to move away from. Do not allow the darkness of this present moment blind you from the fact that you are in the right track.

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