What are you trading for?

Years ago there was a movie called Trading Places. It featured Dan Akroyd and Eddie Murphy. The story line was that Eddie Murphy was scammer, panhandling his way to riches. Dan Akroyd was rich and brought up in the traditions of wealth and finance. The owners of his company made a $1 wager that they could throw Akroyd to the street and give over his job, title and trappings to Murphy. Murphy proved to be shrewd and he and Akroyd partied up and turned the tables on the two company owners.
Integrity or the goodness of a person is often fired in the furnaces of adversity. It is the working relationship of a person dictated by the direction of their moral compass and the walking out of their beliefs. For years the church bandied the idea of true integrity is not what you do in public but that which you do in private. I do not disagree with it conceptually, but I knew that a lot of emphasis was put on behavior modification and not nearly as much on reliance on God. Let us put that thought to the side.

Recently I have begun to notice a lacking on integrity or the willingness to stand up for one’s beliefs in the arena of time. Years ago my brother shared with me that TIME meant “things I must earn.” I think he related it to patience at that time. But in the midst of it time DOES have a value. The value is what you establish it to mean or to be. By your actions for the value you believe it to be worth. It is getting TIME to change!

I see people doing much as they did in the book of Ezekiel, getting wrapped up in the trade of merchandise, in this case time. (Ezekiel 27 -28) Squandering their time. Missing out on the FAVOR OF GOD! They are settling for the hardship of rules and regulations that have been put aside for the people of God, never entering into the rest of His goodness, enjoying the favor of the Lord.

I am concerned not because they are not saved, but because they have given in to the lies of the enemy, the rules of the mind. They have entered the trading place of hardship and hurt. And God already established goodness and grace for His people. They have succumbed to false trading in a world that is not with reality.

The evidence is discouragement and disappointment. So much is founded on “I thought this was the Lord” lately that I am amazed. Late last night I viewed a program that brought me to embarrassment as I watched a person say “God this and God that” to the horror of an unbeliever as lives were trampled over. I will not lie. At first I was angry, upset. Then I began to see this woman and her husband not only believed what they were saying but were walking it out. The hard part was watching the viewers. And then it hit me. And compassion began to well up. They were engaging a belief schedule that once had truth but had become and empty lie. The lie was being propagated because they were exchanging time (And money!) to live out something that was empty, void of life.

The brilliant cherubim of Ezekiel 28 (satan) was found to be bringing about lies to the people. His sin was his undoing. He traded it all to build his kingdom. Too many are operating under a patently false understanding of the goodness of God and what has been derived for them through the shed blood of Jesus. Are you attempting to build something with no value?

What will you trade for the life of emptiness? Better yet, why would you trade? I do not see that God dislikes commerce or trade or prosperity, in fact even the opposite.

My grandfather used to say “stop beating a dead horse” when something had reached its conclusion. (Like when he beat me at chess or checkers!) Philosophically it makes sense that if the horse is dead, to get off it! And yet many will keep trying to “ride it.” A job that has no future, a relationship that abuses, a thought process that one considers unique.

Using this analogy, many will opt for:

• Buying a strong whip- beating themselves and others harder to accomplish something. (Flagellation is not the entry way to God!)
• Changing riders-exchanging relationships and people when the problem is the concept or the idea no longer has fruitfulness.
• Saying things like “this is the way we’ve always ridden this horse.” Never looking to counsel or options can lead you down the path of despair. Be willing to face your shortcomings and disappointments with help.
• Attempting to study the “horse” never acknowledging that the season may in fact be over. Some things just have a shelf life. Over is over.
• Looking to visit others to see how they ride horses-too many trip up on this seeing someone else doing what they always wanted to. God has a plan for you! It may be a different horse!
• Changing the rules to specify that “horses shall not die.” Many get caught up in the actions never realizing it was all about Him.
• More is better. “Harnessing several dead horses” to get it done. Stop! If the relationship or job has maxed out (I am not talking of divorce.) you may need to walk.
• New rules of engagement. Declaring that “no horse is too dead to ride” only promotes further despair.
•  Providing additional funding to increase the horse’s performance
• Promoting the dead horse to a different place. “We are just friends” may not stop the abuse or hurtful relationship. A bad teacher will not necessarily be a better supervisor.

The answer to a dead horse may in fact be…ANOTHER HORSE! A PLAN B!

TIME may in fact mean “things I might evade!” Let’s look for the seasons as the sons of Issachar did, becoming discerners of the times.

Tomorrow Plan B!

From Esther…For such a time as this.

 

Normal
0

false
false
false

EN-US
X-NONE
X-NONE

/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:””;
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0in;
mso-para-margin-right:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0in;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:”Calibri”,”sans-serif”;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}