Gtcotr/ss110925
Time, as we calculate it, may only exist in our minds.
Perhaps time is but a container into which we place memories.
We experience time as the distance between memories. I’ve yet to come up with a calculation that explains why some memories seem like yesterday and others, even though they’re closer, feel so far away.
Memories can make us smile and they also have the power to haunt us. Some are loud while others only whisper softly.
Maybe our greatest challenge is to make more memories so we can crowd the box and fill the days we have left with recollections of pleasant things.
We have lived our lives making memories and we will spend the rest of our lives continuing filling that box with one memory after another. Our hope, especially as we get older, is to create more pleasant memories of how we spend the time we have left.
Today we are going to go to the Word of God and explore some truths about the seasons and chapters of life. We all go and grow through seasons of life from childhood to old age. Although we may not be able to alter the season we are in, we have been given the power and the freedom to begin writing new chapters at any moment we desire.
You have been blessed with a great advantage … you can be the person you want to be … it is within your grasps. You can close the current chapter of your life by simply putting a period right where you stand, right now. Each person has the ability to write their next chapter and make themselves out to be the hero, the villain, or the victim. Regardless of the season or the circumstance, there is always a step you can take towards God and always something you can do to please Him.
First impressions are important but last impressions last. You will write your epitaph not by what you did but by what you do about what you did.
If anyone is looking for a way to win with God and man, they need never look beyond the next person they see. Everyone needs Jesus; everyone needs encouraging; everyone needs someone to listen; everyone needs someone to care. Perhaps your next chapter could begin with a simple apology or with a small gift. Or maybe the next chapter of your life demands a complete reversal of what you believe and the way you have acted or reacted in life.
This morning we are going to take a brief look at a Bible character who was in a bad season of life and see what decisions they made and how they began writing the new chapter of their life.
We cannot and should not try to re-write history … but … we can begin to write a better ending to our story.
The first person we are going to survey is a Canaanite woman who lived in the town of Jericho back in the days of Joshua. She was a well-known, and evidently fairly prosperous businesswoman. Her name is Rahab, and she was a prostitute.
Joshua 2:1 Now Joshua the son of Nun sent out two men from Acacia Grove to spy secretly, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” So they went, and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab, and lodged there.
- · I find it interesting that after 40 years in the wilderness, the first place the two men whom Joshua sent to spy out the Promise Land was a house of ill repute. And the first person they trusted was a prostitute.
- · The two spies made a promise to Rahab. In exchange for her help, she and her family would be spared when the Children of Israel captured and destroyed the city.
- · She agreed and hid the two men from the Canaanite soldiers.
Joshua 6:17 “Now the city shall be doomed by the LORD to destruction, it and all who are in it. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.”
Joshua 6:25 And Joshua spared Rahab the harlot, her father’s household, and all that she had. So she dwells in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
James 2:25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?
Every time Rahab is mentioned in these verses, we are reminded she was a harlot. That’s how she is known today. She was a harlot and now she’s not. God is not hiding or attempting to rewrite history. He is faithful above and bigger than your past. God also tells us over and over that Rahab hid the messengers. Why did Rahab hide the messengers? Because Rahab believed it was time for her to change. We decide when it is time for us to change. She did this by faith. Rahab took a step of faith.
Faith doesn’t make things easy … Faith makes things possible.
Hebrews 11:31 By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.
With that one decision, Rahab closed the current chapter of her life with a simple period and began writing a new story about herself. The power of a decision is seen in Rahab’s life. She had faith that she could change who she was, and she did.
Rahab did not make excuses or try to re-write history … she had been a harlot and she was stuck with those memories. However, she started stacking her memory box with better memories. She wrote herself into a new story line. She married Salmon, a prince in Judah. She had a son named Boaz who had a son named Obed who had a son named Jesse who had a son named David who became King of all Israel.
You know what are Rahab’s greatest memories now? She is the great grandmother of the Messiah, Jesus the Christ, Savior of the world! All because of one decision. She couldn’t change her past but she sure could make a better future. It took faith and works! Just like it does with us.
You cannot change your season of life.
- · If you are young … you are young.
- · If you are old … you are old.
- · If you are single … you are single.
- · If you are the parents of young children …
- · If you are in a season of having to work overtime …
- · If you are a widow or a widower …
You cannot change the season of life … it will change when it is time. But you can decide to be the best you for Jesus in every season. And, if needed, at any time - you can put a period right here, right now, and close this chapter.
Beginning a new chapter starts with one decision. Here are three things I encourage every person to do today:
- 1. Ask God to forgive you of every past or current thought, word, and deed that is contrary to His will and purpose for your life.
- 2. Make a commitment before God to think and pray before you say and do.
- 3. Act like the person God needs you to be.
Repeat these steps if needed, as needed, as often as needed.
We don’t have unlimited time, if we have time at all. So – you had better get started writing the new you today.
