Focus: Nullify Negative Proclivities!

Text: Heb.12:1

"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every WEIGHT, and the SIN which doth SO EASILY beset us…"

Today our focus is on the third letter of JA-N-UARY: Nullify negative proclivities. There are inherent tendencies that come between us and our success. There are certain proclivities that stand between us and our spiritual worship. Someone says that inside of us reside the eagle and the hippopotamus. The eagle loves to soar in the sky while the hippopotamus loves to wallow in the mud. We therefore have a choice to make: to become either the eagle or the hippopotamus. 

Next to our choice is our effort. We must make the effort at becoming what we want to be. I believe all of us desire to fly and soar on high like the eagle. After all, who wants to wallow in the mud like the hippopotamus? 

So let's yield ourselves to becoming that good version of ourselves that is capable of riding on the high places of the earth.

It is required of us to lose or shed weight if we must fly or run in a race. Success in life requires that we inconvenience ourselves and move out of the comfort zone. We must deal with our bad habits, ugly attitudes, and negative tendencies. The author of Hebrews describes it as the weight and the sin that easily cling to us. There is something in us that makes it very easy for us to do evil, but extremely hard for us to do good. 

Paul cautions us not to let sin dominate us. Whatever keeps us from achieving our destiny is either a weight or a sin. It keeps us from flying up or soaring in the sky. Luke tells us about a woman who "had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself" (Lk.13:11). I ask, what is making you unable to lift up yourself from the earth? You seem permanently bent over. You seem stuck in the mud. 

It's about time you checked your weight and dealt with your excess luggage. No one succeeds or excels in any worthwhile venture, bearing so much weight.

Weights are not necessarily sins, but if they keep you from soaring up, then you have no need of them. Take sleeping for example. Sleep is sweet and good for the body, but succeeding requires losing sleep some of the time. If people lose sleep in other to succeed in something worthwhile, then why do you think you should succeed by sleeping round the clock?

It's time you shed some weight and be poised for greatness. It's time to conquer your demons and rise above those negative proclivities that keep you from becoming your best you. God has signed you up for greatness; don't settle for less!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter