Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Judges, Chapter 14,
Verse 11
Out of their fear of him, they brought thirty men to be his companions.
This verse is about
Sampson the strongman of the bible; who struck fear into the hearts of the
pagan Philistines. Nevertheless how different was Sampson from his pagan
neighbors? Justyn Rees has an interesting shortened tale of the tragedy of
Sampson that is available online that is a quick thought-provoking read in his
book entitled, “Old Story New”.[1]
Sampson who was born
endowed with great physical strength started out following God but failed to
continue walking in the spirit of He that Is. John Maxwell[2]
points out that like Gideon many men fail toward the end of their life because
they dilute the vision God had given them, and have become too comfortable with
their success and lack the self-control to overcome their weaknesses. John’s
advice to leaders is to be self-disciplined using a quote from Plato, “The first and best victory is to conquer
self.” John points out a five step plan to develop self-discipline in your
life.
1.
Develop and follow
your priorities. Time is a precious commodity, do what’s really important
first and release yourself from the rest.
2.
Make a
disciplined lifestyle your goal. Set up systems and routines to ensure you
feed the mind, body, spirit and love of neighbor daily.
3.
Challenge your
excuses. We all make them; push the envelope.
4.
Remove rewards until
you finish the job. Eat your vegetables first.
5.
Stay focused on
results. Focus on the outcomes and not the difficulties in accomplishing
it; envision the change.
Our model for transformation:
Jesus
went up to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. (Luke
6:12)
[1]
https://books.google.com/books?id=Ya4KBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA81&lpg=PA81&dq=burn+you+and+your+family+philistines&source=bl&ots=0UWpCsxdDc&sig=AVZOJtLIcSvCrAzCdgZl5lvhjoE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CEoQ6AEwCWoVChMIq5bd_dLkyAIVA9pjCh0MGwvM#v=onepage&q=burn%20you%20and%20your%20family%20philistines&f=false
[2]
John Maxwell, The Leadership Bible, 1982.
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