Original Entry: April 20, 2007
McMinnville
30 The LORD your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes Deuteronomy 1:30
41 Then you replied, "We have sinned against the LORD. We will go up and fight, as the LORD our God commanded us." So every one of you put on his weapons, thinking it easy to go up into the hill country. 42 But the LORD said to me, "Tell them, `Do not go up and fight, because I will not be with you. You will be defeated by your enemies.' " Deuteronomy 1:41-42
For several years I tried to listen to one tape on leaderships a week and this week I happen to be listening to John Maxwell’s tape titled, “Defining Moments in Leadership.” Maxwell’s teaching has caused me to reflect upon my defining moments in my leadership career: Accepting the position as Area Director for Youth for Christ (1991), going to El Morro Church of the Nazarene (1994), God’s stirring in me to be a spiritual leader (1997), ordination (2000) and moving to Oregon (2003). Each of these moments is unique, but all began with the choice of, “What am I going to decide based on what God is doing now?”
Defining moments force a choice.
Defining moments are fleeting opportunities that, if we choose, have the ability to change us forever. But if we reject them, will leave us unchanged, mundane, and in the same rut we were in before the moment. Defining moments received create more defining moments. When a man walks into a defining moment he steps into the will and potential blessings of God. To accept a defining moment is to step into the ring and choose to fight. Christians are not pacifists; they are fighters who battle for Kingdom grace. To be a kingdom Christian, to be a man, is to step into the ring of God’s will and His defining moment for you.
Defining moments redefine our identity as well. God is constantly working and shaping us through the defining moments He places in our path. In Philippians 1:6 where Paul writes, “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
God never stops throwing punches! He never stops fighting for us!
Look at the passage for today and the progression from verses 30-32. The Israelites were redefined in theses verses as this “evil generation (35)” instead of his children. They went from a people that God was going to “fight in your behalf (30)” to a nation admonished to “not go up nor fight, for I am not among you (42).” In twelve short verses, the people of Moses redefined who they were.
In twelve short verses they went from entering the Promised Land to dying in the dessert.
Ironically, verse 41 tells us that they tried to reclaim the defining moment by saying “we have sinned against the Lord; we will indeed to up and fight.” But they missed an important truth.
Defining moments cannot be reclaimed.
Their repentance was futile as they had let the moment slip by them in futility and subsequent infamy. Take a hard, long look for the defining moments you have experienced in your life. Now keep a careful look out for those few times in life when a defining moment may come your way. It will not make its way around again so when you find yourself in the midst of one, jump in the ring. Put your gloves on and start throwing punches. Defining moments pass quickly and will never leave you the same no matter what you choose to do with one.
