4 Abundant life ~ Helping the Good Expand
4 Abundant life Blog #4
Helping the Good Expand
There is a universal success principle grounded in the Scriptures of Proverbs that states, “What you focus on expands”. Good or bad, we become and act in accordance with what we think about most often. This is one area that has challenged both of us over the years.
Paul wrote in the letter to Romans 7:15 “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” This verse reinforces the premise that if you focus on sin, your thoughts and actions will lead you to sin (sin expands). For those recovering “legalists” out there, the good news is that you cannot out-sin God’s grace. In fact, Romans 5:20 validates this good news “…Where sin increased, grace increased all the more.”
Sin is grounded in temptation and we have all been instructed by Jesus himself to avoid the temptation of extremes:
1.Everything is a sin.
2.Nothing is a sin.
In the Lord’s Prayer, we are instructed to pray that our heavenly Father will “not lead us into temptation”. First, of all, God would never lead his children into temptation. Temptation comes from the enemy. As Emmet Fox wrote in his book, “Sermon on the Mount”, the temptation we are asking God to help us avoid is grounded in the extremes of legalism “everything is a sin” and grace “nothing is a sin”. In other words, we choose to be mindful of both extremes in order to help the good expand in our life.
This is as simple as we can make it. If you focus on sin, you will sin. However, our sins (past, present, and future) have already been forgiven by the only one who paid that price. Therefore, we should focus on more innocence (from goodness and right/positive thinking) and less guilt (from sin and negative thinking).
Remember, there is no limit to the inheritance of abundance. Abundant health. Abundant wealth. Abundant peace. Abundant family/relationships. Abundant purpose/work. Abundant _______ (fill in the blank). At the appointed time and place; when we use our talents and gifts to glorify God, abundance becomes manifest.
If you woke up this morning on this side of the grass, you have something to be positive about. There is something good to focus on and expand into abundance. We have the power to transform our thoughts, spoken words, and actions if we choose to, want to, like to, love to.
Application:
What goodness do you want expanded in your life today? ____________ (fill in the blank).
Think about something in your life that is positive and related to what you filled in the blank. It can be as simple as “I am glad to be on this side of the grass because I still have a purpose.”
Speak that positive into existence. Repeat the positive phrase often. “I have a purpose to fulfill today. That purpose gives me joy, peace, prosperity, health, wealth, and wisdom.”
There is more on this topic in Chapter 3 of our book “4 Abundant Life”. Once again, we look forward to hearing about your experiences making the good expand! Drs. Eric and Joanna Oestmann
