Have you ever expressed an interest in doing something but not followed through with it? If you tell your friends, what question will they ask in reply? Isn’t it some version of, ‘what is holding you back’? There can be many reasons, but could this be the wrong question to ask? Perhaps a better approach would be to ask, ‘what is pulling you forward’? Desire is a powerful force, and there is tension when it meets resistance. Desire will have to overcome resistance to prevail. This isn’t likely to happen if you focus only on the obstacles in the way.

Do you have a comfort zone? Do you spend most of your time there? How can you tell? There is a human tendency to seek out the familiar and reassuring. This is easy and comfortable, but it is not a place of challenge and growth. To move ahead you must depart from or at least challenge your preferred and familiar ways of being and thinking. Your certainties do not always serve you well, but letting go of them will be one of the most difficult things you can do. Ask me for the courage to revisit things you have held for a long time, and be willing to hold a ‘garage sale’ if necessary.

My word promises that if you humble yourself under my hand then I will exalt you in due time. Do you believe this? Are you putting it into practice? Do you see people humbling themselves trusting that I will recognize them? Or do you see people advancing themselves and presenting themselves in the most favorable light? John the Baptist said of himself that he must decrease that I might increase, and he lived simply and humbly as an outsider as an expression of this. But I said of John that among those born of women there was none greater. So it worked for him.

Do you consider it important to be a good Christian? What about a good person? Are these the same thing? Do you know anyone who passes for a good Christian that you do not think of as a good person? What about the other way around? Being diligent and devout in traditional church activities is highly rated in church, but those outside the church will evaluate you by different criteria. A good reputation among those who do not share your belief structure and creeds is therefore more valuable and enduring than a good reputation in church. Can you be a good person without being a Christian?