The Ability to Bounce Back February 9, 2007
Posted by Han in : Life's Challenge , trackbackYou may have tried many times and worked very hard to be successful in life but nothing had ever come out of it except failures after failures. No matter what’s hindering you in accomplish great things in life, I wish to share to you the good news. Christ has come to set us free! He comes to set us free from our pasts, disappointments, failures and setbacks.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17
As long as we are in Christ, the good news is we are a new creation, the old has gone and the new has come. Hallelujah! But the problem is even though we have accepted Christ, we choose to remain in our past, being influenced by our past and continue to live in the same manner as the past. In this case, how can we have a breakthrough? Take some time to ponder on how much the past had influenced us. Some were good, keep it. Some were very crippling, break it!
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1
Now matter how terrible we were in the past, the bible tells us that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We have been feeling condemned, guilty or disappointed; remember there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Therefore if Christ has not condemned us then why are we condemning ourselves? Are we greater than God? Of course it is a big “NO”.
I can do everything through Him (Christ) who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13
Some may say, I have worked very hard, tried many ways and exhausted every idea that came across my mind and still, I kept failing. Now my hands are weak and legs are tired. I just want to give up. Wait a minute!!! Instead of trying and trying, have we ever considered asking God for His help and strength to overcome our problems and difficulties? We need to come into the presence of God to obtain guidance and strength. God has not given up on us; why should we give up on ourselves? Please spend some time to pray.
We deserved a second chance
All of us deserve a second chance. No one is perfect. In some way or another we may have fell but all of us deserve a second chance. God is good. His grace is sufficient for us. His power is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). Remember in John 8 the teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought to Jesus a woman caught in adultery and they wanted to stone her. Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. Next he asked a question – if any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her. Not to long, one by one left without casting a stone on her but dropped it on the ground. Then Jesus told the woman, neither do I condemn you and go now and leave your life of sin.
All of us have sinned. All of us have fallen before but Jesus is giving us a well deserve second chance. But to be honest, there is a condition attached. Jesus told the woman to leave her life of sin. Therefore, we should not dwell in our past, feeling condemned and resigning ourselves to such a fate and thus not able to bounce back in life. If we choose to remain on where we are without wanting to make any changes, then we will lose the second chance given by God. Let us make a commitment to arise from our past circumstance, forbidding ourselves to be influenced by them and to totally depend on the grace of God to bounce back in life, amen.
Let’s roll up our sleeves and dirty our hands
Alright, we have now settled the problems of our mind (influenced by the past), the problems of our heart (feeling condemn) and our physical body (feeling weak); we need to roll up our sleeves, get our hands dirtied and start working.
I want to share to all of us 3 crucial steps to take in order to bounce back in life. It can be found in Mathew 25:14-30, the parable of the talents.
1) Plan for it (v16-17)
The first 2 servants knew what to do with their money. They had some plans. They immediately put the money to work and one gained five more and the other gained two more. As for the last servant with one talent, he did not have any idea at all on what to do with the money. So he dug a hole and hid it inside even though he knew his master labored hard for the money but it never occured to him at least he could have put it in the bank to earn some interest.
Let us consider for a moment, what it really means when one digs a hole and hide the money inside the hole? It actually means he is hiding his talent, creativity and productivity. Basically he is just doing nothing and he is wasting his own life away. How sad!
You see, if we would stop and ask ourselves why we aren’t we passionate enough, our own heart will tell us that it is not because of our ignorance (unaware) or our inability, but purely because we had never thoroughly intended it to be. We did not seriously sit down quietly to evaluate our life and plan for our growth.
Next, look at the servant who had 5 talents and you could see how he had went at once to put his money to work. The important word to note here is “at once”. Do not procrastinate, do not wait. There is no more time left. Do it immediately. Cultivate the urgency of having good time management. We will never know, the master will return any time!
2) Work it out (v26)
We do not know how the 2 servants gained the money but I am sure they worked it out. That is why one gained 5 more and the other gained 2 more. It is pretty straight forward, if we sow something, we will reap something. If we sow nothing, we will reap nothing.
There are 2 things we can learn from the master’s reply to the servant who had produced nothing. Let us see how we can work it out from the master’s reply:
a) Do not be lazy
He is called a wicked and lazy servant. If we are lazy, we will not be able to do anything and we produce nothing – fruitless. Laziness will prevent us from working out something.
Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth. Proverbs 10:4
b) Start from small
If we want to work it out, we must always start from small. The master told the servant, at least he could have deposit the money into the bank and earn interest rather than digging a hole and hiding it inside. You see, the interest of one talent earned in the bank may be very small an amount. But at least, there is something even though it is small. So, if we can’t handle 5 talents or 2 talents, we can always start from 1 talent.
3) Don’t give excuse (v24)
Let’s look at the response of the 3 servants. The first servant said 13 words, the second servant said 13 words but the third servant said 44 words. What was he saying? He was giving excuses (even though what he said wass right). But those excuses could not justify why he was not producing any result.
Do not fall into the trap of giving excuses. Sometimes, those excuses may be valid but they could just cause us more harm. These “excuses” will eventually prevent us from bouncing back in life.
Conclusion
From the principle of the bible, let us learn how to bounce back in life. Let us say “Goodbye” to our past, disappointments, failures and setbacks. Let us begin today with a conquering and overcoming spirit. Remember, it is by the grace of God and I can do everything through Him (Christ) who gives me strength. Amen.
All the Best,
Han
Comments»
Dear Han,
Thanks for your wonderful and heartfelt articles which I can relate to my own life, especially this. One thing I thank my God is, He gave me the ability to bounce back, each time and every time.
Keep it up! Keep on keeping on.
Des
Hi Desmond, thanks for your comment. Indeed, we may have many failures in life but that’s not too important, the most important thing is this, we have the ability to bounce back in Christ! Once again, thank you.
Bro Han,
I find what my pastor was teaching today during service is related to what you are sharing here too. Success is moving from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.
I’m blessed by your sharing. Thanks a lot.