Thoughts on Discipleship by Dr. W. A. Dillard - HTML preview

RETROSPECTION, INTROSPECTION, AND PROSPECTION

Today is the first day of the rest of your life. It is a brand new year. It is a time that naturally lends itself to retrospection, introspection, and prospection. Think about it!

In retrospect, the past year is mentally reviewed. There are failures, shortcomings; sins of commission and omission. But, there are achievements, joys, and the satisfaction those bring as well. Accordingly, the initial days of the New Year are also used to look deep inside for justification or lack thereof of actions past, and dedication with determination to fulfill that which spills over into the New Year undone. Moreover, in prospection the whole New Year is laid out before us all to do the Will of God; to accomplish noble goals that bring honor to Him and to ourselves as well. I do not speak of New Year’s Resolutions. Most of those are broken before the first month is finished. Rather I speak of an honest evaluation of time, and life as the Creator has so graciously imparted it into our stewardship.

It is important to not get bogged down in so many things one thinks should be done before embarking on noble goals. God wants commitment from His children, even resolve in faith to put Him and His work first. That done, it is always astounding what God can do, and will do with one in that commitment.

The story is told of a movie producer who spotted a homeless man on the street. He was so non-presentable socially, but the producer told him he wanted to cast him in a movie. He gave him the address to appear the next day, and an advance payment for the job. Later, as the man passed a mirror, he noticed how terribly unkempt he was. So, he took a bath, bought new clothes with his money, and got a haircut. The next day, he arrived at the designated address to be cast in the movie. When asked to identify himself he recounted the encounter the previous day. It was then that the producer said he could not use the man in the movie. He wanted him as he was, not as he had now made himself to appear.

How many times have people proposed to serve God when they get other things done or past actions rectified. It is nothing more than trying to pass a pig off as a lamb. God won’t have it. He wants each person as they are. Then He will make them what He wants them to be. The Apostle Paul did not let past things stand in his way. He said, “… but this one thing I do, forgetting things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 3:13-14. What a marvelous formula of life!!! Let us all choose it as our constraining and motivating guide of our life.

FOR THOUGHT: Do you know that the desire to present oneself to God as being better than he is in the present is one of the most effective tools Satan uses to encourage procrastination? It should be remembered that it is not the healthy that need a physician, but the sick.