By Dr. Daniel R. Stahl
As a kid, I remember watching old Tarzan reruns on Saturday mornings. Tarzan, in the heat of a moment, would climb a tree, leap from a branch, catch a vine, and then race above the jungle swinging from vine to vine. To move forward, he would have to release his grip on one vine and transfer his grip and momentum to another vine. To increase his speed required him to release his grip from a greater distance and height causing more weight and momentum in the swing. How that worked was an engineering thing, but it works for us as a faith thing.
We cannot move forward toward our destiny, or change our futures, by holding onto the past at the same time we are trying to move forward toward a preferred future. We always have to let go of something to grasp something new. Are you willing to identify and let go of the vines you’re hanging on to in order to move into a better future?
Letting go of the past requires changing our conversation and actions in the present. We need hope, desire, and faith for change, but one’s speaking and acting promotes the achieving of the change. James was writing about our tongues when he said, “Look at the ships also, they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires.” (James 3:4) We may want a different future for our lives than what we are presently experiencing but unless we start speaking and acting differently, change will never happen.
As our tongues and mouths speak faith-filled declarations about our futures, the “rudders” of our lives are set in that direction. Our tongues precede our feet in our faith journeys into our futures. Go ahead and touch your mouths and say, “Oh my, the problem is right here!” James said it plainly that the tongue is that rudder and the pilot, you set the direction according to your inclination. What and where is your inclination?
