It's Time To Move On

Adapted from Bishop Roberto Jemmott’s sermon and monthly publication “The Bishop’s Pen" – It's Time To Move On (December 2014)

Joel Osteen writes the following in his book Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential: 

"You must make a decision that you are going to move on. It won't happen automatically. You will have to rise up and say, I don't care how hard this is, I don't care how disappointed I am, I'm not going to let this get the best of me. I'm moving on with my life."

I agree with Joel Osteen when he says that moving on "won't happen automatically." It will take time, but we must move on. Yes! It will take time to move on because one of the most difficult things to do is move on from the pain, the hurt, from disappointment and the many setbacks you have experienced. The reason so many people find it so difficult to move on is because moving on means leaving the familiar, even if the familiar is a painful or difficult experience.  Some of us have become comfortable with the pain, or we have developed coping mechanisms that allow us to live with the pain and disappointment. 

If you are going to transition into the next phase of life and become the man or woman God has created and called you to be, you must move on from the pain of your past, and anything that is keeping you from becoming your best you! If you fail to move on, you will stay anchored to the place of pain, failure and disappointment. Even when you experience success you must learn how to move on and build from that place of success and become greater.  We can't allow success to become a shrine and miss the next level of success.  Prior to the iPhone's successful introduction, the Blackberry was the leader in smart phone devices. Everybody had a Blackberry, but the company failed to build on its success.  They failed to innovate and lost the market to the iPhone because Apple has learned how to build on their success. They keep innovating the iPhone, which is why we have the iPhone 6 Plus.

The children of Israel teach us a valuable lesson on moving on. In the book of Deuteronomy, we are told how God's commanded them to move on from Mount Sinai. "When we were at Mount Sinai, the LORD our God said to us, you have stayed at this mountain long enough." Deuteronomy 1:6 (NLT)

Mount Sinai was a very special and significant place to the children of Israel. It was the place of their greatest revelation, the place where God revealed Himself to them and gave them His Laws and commandments. Mount Sinai was also the place of their greatest failure; it was there that they worshiped the golden calf and began their journey into idolatry. Don't allow failure or success to keep you from your destiny. The Promised Land was their destiny not the wilderness.

We are in the early days of the New Year, 2014 is behind us. You need to move on from the pain, hurt and disappointments you experienced in 2014. Like the children of Israel, you have been staying in the place of pain, sorrow and disappointment long enough.  

It's time to move on!