My heart is heavy right now because there is somebody out there that is still holding on to things that they should have let go of a long time ago. Theres somebody out there that still doesnt know who Jesus is, because they still havent let go. Theres a story that Paul tells in Philippians 3... one of his letters about all the things that he accomplished and all the things he gained. He was a very successful guy, and he was a guy that had a lot of education, he had a lot of experiences, and he was a well respected person before he became a Christian. and he makes a statement, that if you can kind of grasp it, its a very profound and life changing statement. He says, but whatever is gained to me, whatever those things that were my accomplishments and my achievements and things that I have gathered in my life…. for the SAKE of Christ all those things I now consider them lost, I consider them nothing. Then he says Because of Christ I have suffered the loss of all things that I may gain Him and be found in Him. He says I consider them RUBBISH! and understand that when he says Because of Christ I have suffered the loss of all things, he’s not just saying that he gave up things but he’s saying that when he gave them up I he had to suffer, Giving them up was hard, giving them up made him cry his eyes out... it wasn’t just something easy like giving up sweets, or not going on Facebook for a day…. What he gave up was incredibly difficulty. Here’s an example. Lets say that your living room is full of furniture, and lets say that you have furniture in that living room that you’ve had for 10 or 20 years, and lets say that that furniture has an incredible amount of sentimental value, lets say that that couch is the couch where you were sitting when you found out your girlfriend or boyfriend was in a car accident, lets say that that furniture was the first thing you were able to buy with your first big check at your new job, lets say that that rug was the rug you laid on looking up at the ceiling when you found out that you were going to be a father or a mother. or lets say that that love seat was the seat you sat in and cried your eyes our when your son or daughter just left your living room to go to their high school prom. And so the stuff has priceless sentimental value, and then someone gives you a check to specifically buy ALL new furniture for your living room, literally any new furniture that you want no matter how expensive it is. So you get to fill that living room with all new furniture…. Thats BEAUTIFUL…. BUT you’ve got a room already full of furniture that has sentimental value, and those chairs are old and beat down, but you love those chairs.
YOU can’t get new furniture while the old furniture is still occupying the space. You can’t get new furniture why the old furniture is still occupying the space. You must go through the painful process of letting stuff go, even tho it may have value to you, even tho it may be important to you… IF you want to get whats new and whats better and improved, you’ve gotta let go of stuff you are trying to hold on to. You may have tape covering up splits and tears on the couch, but because it has so much sentimental value, you don’t want to let it go. Ask yourself right now, What are the people in your life, what are the things in your life, what are the strongholds and painful things you are holding on to that are occupying the space in your life where Jesus is supposed to reside. What are the things that you are still holding onto thats preventing you from getting this blank check that is written by Jesus on Calvary thats going to be able to fill your heart with ALL NEW THINGS and make you brand new. Whats the stuff that you need to suffer the loss of so you can gain new things.
I want to give you a scripture that helped me get rid of the old things in my life that I was holding on to, that helped me break free of the drug addiction that I carried for YEARS>
Isaiah 43:18-19
Do not remember the former things,
Nor consider the things of old.
19 Behold, I will do a new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
I will even make a road in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert.