Don’t Bite Off More Than You Can Chew
An old man on the point of death summoned his sons around him to give them some parting advice. He ordered his servants to bring in a bundle of sticks, and said to his eldest son: "Break it." The son strained and strained, but with all his efforts was unable to break the Bundle. The other sons also tried, but none of them was successful. "Untie the bundle," said the father, "and each of you take a stick." When they had done so, he called out to them: "Now, break," and each stick was easily broken. "You see my meaning," said their father.
How are your New Year’s resolutions going? (That is, if you made some---and no slam at you if you did not---like following Jesus, it is a free will choice of each individual, not a command from God.) In the past few days I have cautioned not to try to change everything that is ‘bad’ (or needs improving) in your life all at once, but to take it one small step at a time. The key to successfully completing any task, and not just resolutions made on January 1st, is to not bite off more than you can chew.
The story above is one of the several recorded fables from an early Greek slave (about 600 BC) named Aesop. The moral is quite clear….if you try to do too much, failure may be in your future, but if you eat that elephant just one bite at a time, each bad habit you may be trying to break can be easily done so.
On a more spiritual note, my question to you is, ‘how are your promises to God going’? They are, actually, the same as a resolution. We have each resolved some time in our past (e.g. when we were baptized) to change our lives. Some of us had real nasty backgrounds prior to that, and we probably tried to change every single bad behavior upon that glorious day we began our new journey with the Holy Spirit within us. But, more than likely, we have all struggled with some of those old sins since becoming a follower of Christ. It is not easy to make a complete, 180 degree, turnaround in behavior and actions. So, for those of us who struggle constantly, we should know not to give up. If you put together lust, anger, greed and pride into a single bundle, and try to break them all at the same time, you might not be able to do so. However, if you still have these (or some of the many other sins as recorded throughout the Bible) in your life, I suggest to concentrate on just one for seven weeks (see yesterday’s lesson), then go to the next one. I’d wager your success will be greater by the end of this year.
Solomon (written in Greek is Σολομών, and lived around 950 BC) has some great advice for us in his book we call Ecclesiastes. In chapter 5, verse 5, he writes: "It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it." If we resolve to make some major change in our lives this year, and we fail at it, it would have been better to have not made the resolution in the first place. Have you vowed to change somehow this year (most people do this)? If so, rethink that vow and determine not only if it is possible (as all things are with God), but that it is also plausible. Even if your decision to change is not related to a New Year’s resolution, but simply a promise to God that you’ll change, make sure that the bundle you are trying to break is not too big. Split it down into pieces, one sin at a time, and tackle each one separately. Eventually, you will break the whole bundle; one bite at a time.