Win the Day #5 | Cut the Rope – B Side

Win The Day with the future in mind!

Your future is in your next step… It starts as a thought and then requires a step into the adjacent possible.

The seeds of today create trees of tomorrow.

Elisha Otis was the inventor of the safety elevator. People were hesitant to ride elevators because they felt they were unsafe.

So, he invented the safety elevator break. During a demonstration, he cut the rope holding the elevator and the Safety Brake kicked in. After that, elevators were embraced and buildings begin to be built taller and taller. The acceptance of elevators opened up a whole new approach to building taller buildings.

The Adjacent Possible 

• Elevators make skyscrapers possible 
• Microchips makes smartphones possible

Imagining unborn tomorrow’s does not mean figuring out every facet of your future. It’s mustering the courage to take the next step.

Cut The Rope may mean it’s time to make some changes in your world.

Some things, Ideas, Concepts, Approaches, Relationships, Behavior… belong to a past era.

The escalation of commitment

It’s the natural tendency despite increasingly negative outcomes to keep doing what you’ve been doing even when it obviously is not working any more.

Sunk Cost

You don’t want to lose what you’ve put in. But you can get stuck doing the same thing over and over.

In Genesis, Abraham and Lot are traveling through the journey of life together. Lot is being blessed because of his association with Abraham.

Genesis 13:7 And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. Now the Canaanite and the Perizzite were dwelling then in the land.

Genesis 13:8 Then Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, nor between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brothers.

Genesis 13:9 “Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me: if to the left, then I will go to the right; or if to the right, then I will go to the left.”

Abraham realizes that “we’ve got to move on”…. We have got to make some changes around here.

It’s time to cut the rope. You choose which way you want to go and I’ll keep going where I’m supposed to go. But there is no use in staying here and fighting.

If we can’t prosper together, we need to prosper apart. Abraham deferred to Lot… He knew a life of conflict is not good for either party.

It wasn’t weakness to defer. It was actually strength to address the issue.

We live in a world in total conflict. There is a spiritual conflict going on in the heavens. You’ve got to be discerning about what battles to engage in

And what battles to defer on.

The belief that there is more than enough to go around will help you to not always be hoarding or fighting.

Abraham realized there was plenty to go around:

• This is essential to making moves that create space
• You must believe in the abundance of God
• That God has a hope and a future for you
• Or you will hold on to what you have so tightly

Believe it is God’s will to prosper you, in your future.

It’s hard to make the changes that will give (create) the breathing space to go to the next place God wants to take you:

• Making this move must have been difficult
• They were so used to the way things had been

It may mean a change in schedule… the way you do things… who you hang with.

The tension that precedes the move to the next level is not fun:

• But realize that it’s all a part of the process
• Don’t turn that tension into something personal

God’s blessing is in you and on you.

Abraham carried his blessing with him. Lot was given the option and he chose the place that looked in the natural like it would be a blessing.

God says to Abraham “I’m going to bless you now where you go”

Genesis 13:14 And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward;

Genesis 13:15 for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever.

Genesis 13:16 “And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also be numbered.

Genesis 13:17 “Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you.”

The blessing of the Lord is not so much on your circumstances. The blessing of the Lord is on you and in you.

God’s promises are still true!

It’s not just going to the place that looks good in the natural that will produce blessing. The blessing flows to you and out of you.

The grass is always greener on the other side:

• Grow green grass where you are
• Plant seed, fertilize, water what you have

Stay connected where you are supposed to stay connected. Lot lost out, losing his connection to Abraham. Abraham didn’t just go to a place that looked blessed, he went and brought blessing with Him.

Take a fresh look at your vision from new vantage points.

It’s still the same vision and purpose God originally gave in Gen. 12. God basically reiterates to Abraham the same vision. But Abraham is not the same person nor is he living in the same place in life.

If your vision is changing every two or three years, you’ll never get anywhere.

The problem many churches run into, is their pastor is only committed to being there for a season:

• We moved to Asheville with a commitment to build for a lifetime
• 32 years – is just the beginning
• People go from church to church and wonder why things don’t go well with them

A long term commitment to your vision is vital to carry you through the storms and seasons life throws at you.

At some point, it’s vital to figure out what God wants you to do with your life, and who He’s joined you to.

But if your perspective on your vision isn’t growing, if we are not growing as people… if you haven’t taken a fresh look recently, things can get stale.

There are some ways to walk out your vision now that you didn’t have these things 2 or 3 or 10 years ago:

• Experience
• Revelation
• Relationships
• Understanding

A fresh look at the same vision from a new place is vital. When was the last time you took a fresh look at your vision?

The pandemic has served us in this way. It’s been a good season to almost hit pause and look at what really matters.

I’ve become more convinced than ever that gathering together is vital to a strong, healthy life!

Don’t get so buried in the maintenance of daily that you don’t reevaluate your:

• Perspective
• Schedule
• Priorities
• Relationships

Have a fresh encounter with God

Genesis 13:18 Then Abram moved his tent and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord.

Abraham’s new move brought him to a new place of worship.

There are some moves that will move you away from God… avoid them!

But some moves will bring you to a new place of dependence.

Build an altar around every stage of your life

Find God in a meaningful way at this stage of your life.

• You’re single – find God in your singleness
• You just got married – fresh encounter
• You’ve got babies, or toddlers – find God in a fresh way
• Teenagers – You need God in a fresh way
• Kids moved on – It’s a new season, find God in it

The way you found God or encountered Him in the last stage is not going to work in this stage. Abraham cut the rope in his situation with Lot.

Is there something you need to let go of that you know is holding you back?