Too often we attribute our success to hard work, intelligence or good fortune. But how do we respond when things don't go well? If you’re like me, you blame bad luck or others for your failures. Human nature takes the credit and shifts the blame. We are usually good at patting ourselves on the back when things are going great. We are equally guilty of pointing fingers at others when things are out of control.
Five times in the Book of Deuteronomy we read the phrase, Remember that you were slaves in Egypt - 5:15, 15:15, 16:12, 24:18 and 24:22. God wanted His people to remember their past. Not to dwell on it but to learn from it. The reason for looking back and remembering is to maintain perspective in the present. When we forget where we came from we begin to think we have earned our positions or possessions and that we deserve God’s blessing. By remembering we were Slaves in Egypt, we will be able to engage life with gratitude and humility. Remember the cost Jesus paid to ransom us from spiritual slavery. We were spiritual slaves bought with a great price. Remember your freedom and the price that was paid to gain liberty. Freedom and liberty do not come from the government or any other man made entity. It is not our hard work, intelligence or good luck that sets us free. God's grace liberates us to serve Him with thankful hearts because we are now sons and daughters, heirs to His Kingdom, no longer Slaves in Egypt.
Eric as I sat in Church today I was absorbed in my thinking about the pedophiles and the Church etc. I could have let it overwhelm me it is so Monstrous . I patiently waited for the emotion to pass. My patience paid off . There is not a single problem that cannot be solved if we are patience . You mentioned the past . We are the sum total of our experiences. Another way of saying this is that you are burdened by your past. Unless you learn to respond properly in the present, you build upon that past. And without self-control, that is the only future you have to look forward to. Respond wrongly to pressure just one time—and what upsets you, gets to you. And you will go on responding slavishly until you find the truth that makes you free. Thanks for letting me sound off.
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