Shipping items across the country is a tedious affair. Whether we are in a business delivering merchandise, a homeowner making a big move, or sending birthday gifts to a favored niece, we have to pay attention to what we’re doing, because to do it wrong is to wind up with damaged goods.
Each item we box must be carefully positioned, packaging must be laid in with care, and no empty spaces may be left. Otherwise, what we’ve boxed so carefully will shift, and the items we pull from the box will be broken and worthless.
It is exhausting to make sure it is all done to perfection.
It is only when we put on that last piece of tape that we can sigh with relief, knowing that we have done the best we can do, and we can let it all go. It is now someone else’s responsibility.
The same concept applies to life. There are times our lives take turns we don’t expect, and we have to package up the past and move on. We have to lay old friendships aside, package our treasured memories carefully, and make sure all the empty spaces left over are filled with the love of Christ. Then, exhausted, we can pull out our tape and wrap the package in that final strip, sealing it firmly, so that we can step forward in God’s new direction.
We are putting what is no longer ours behind us.
At these times, God’s Word gives us the encouragement we need to go on. When we begin to look forward and not backwards, we will start to see where he is taking us. God cannot begin to move us into his new blessings until we have applied that last piece of tape to what he needs put behind us.
Let’s look at what God’s Word says about moving on:
Romans 8:18
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”
Philippians 3:14
“I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Jeremiah 29:11
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
Romans 12:9
“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.”
Psalm 91:1-5
“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’ For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day.”
Isaiah 43:18-20
“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people.”
Life is about moving on, whether it is by choice or forced on us by circumstance. It is only when we are willing to follow God’s directions that we can see his footsteps leading us and know exactly where he wants us to step out for him.
We must seal up the old in order to move on to the new. God knows we are ready when we apply that last piece of tape.
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