After you lay your foundation with your acceptance of Christ, it is God's desire to continue to build on that foundation. The prospects for your future are limitless as all things are made new. 2 Cor. 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! In house lingo, we have moved to a new location and that location is in a different area, a different neighborhood, and it gives us a whole different perspective on God's Ways and how our life fits in the whole thing. One of the first things a person needs to do when they build that new foundation is to leave the old house behind and don't go back. Andra and I love to drive around and look at houses. We look at the different yards, sidings, colors, and lots. It is amazing how different houses can look on the same street. On one particular day we went by a house where the yard was grown up, there were no window coverings, and it looked like there was no furniture inside. We came to the same conclusion at the same time......deserted. You could tell there was no care, no life, and of course, no people. Deserted is what needs to happen with your old house, the one before Christ. If you are going to make a clean break with your old life you need to change residence and don't go back. Here are some things that you need to watch for when leaving the old way of living.
1. Don't go back to that old way of living or that old house. It NEEDS to look neglected and deserted. Weeds growing up around it are GOOD. Those weeds show you are not drawn back to keeping it fixed up in case you need to move back. You need to change spiritual zip codes and holding on to parts of the past keep you from the clean break that helps you get your new home built. This is one of those times when neglect is ok. You want the old house to fall into obscurity because you don't live there anymore.
2. Don't do a Time Share in a Compromise Condo. Sure you leave that old house, but you need a fix because you miss the old life , so you think I will just hang around it a little. You find a way to compromise and live in the old house mentality, but at a new location. You know it's not where you live permanently, but it gives you just enough of the old life to satisfy the old worldly desire. That Sin Vacation will only delay what God is trying to do in helping you build your new home. It's a distraction and when your focus changes, you change. Before long you have no problem compromising your faith and even though the time share was meant to be a short time thing, you come up with reason after reason to stay.
3. Don't DO nothing!! Two don'ts in a row will make any person say, "Is it all about don'ts?" It's not all about don'ts, but life change involves some don'ts. Don't go back to old way because it will drag you in. Are you saying I need to practice avoidance on certain things and even certain people from my past? That's exactly what I am saying! Years ago I knew a young man who realized His need for Christ in the midst of a very worldly lifestyle. His lifestyle wasn't the type we look down on easily, it was the "posh" side of worldliness. The side of compromise we give a break for because it involves wealth and social position. Christ changed his life dramatically, but he couldn't get beyond the life of compromise. Also, he was very intelligent and that allowed him many arguments to keep not only the old way, but make it seem ok. In other words, he needed to practice major avoidance of any activity with certain friends and certain activities until he could make a clean break from his past. I told him he should aggressively pursue joining an accountability group in a strong group of men who could help keep him focused. He did that very thing and was able to wean himself from the past way of living. If he had just tried to get away from his past on his own and never taken steps to move forward, he would have continued to live a defeated Christian Life. The terms defeated and Christian Life shouldn't even be in the same sentence, but they are because many are not willing to step out of their past and run to their new future in Christ.
4. The next step for anyone wanting to build a household of faith in their life is, walk away from the old residence and build the new one on the foundation Christ has formed for you. Desert the old way and take up the new. As you walk that way a fog will be lifted from your eyes and little by little you will start to see more and more of the great plan God has for your life. You may ask, "What if I don't walk away from it?" Please listen as I say this, "you will miss it all..........ALL!" Is that straightforward enough? I hope so. You can have everything new now...... Will you walk away from that old house or will you hang your head and turn around and walk back through the door and stay the same. Christ wants so much more for you. The future is exciting with Him in charge. If you're going to do a Time Share......Share time with Him.The Pilgrimage continues.....
David Warren
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