There are two lessons in business that I've found to also be true in my walk with God...
...from my training in college I was taught the Fallacy of Sunk Cost Bias:
When you get into a large project you will be tempted to use the amount you have already spent as a justification for future spending. That is a fallacy. The money that you have yet to spend should only be spent if it will earn sufficient return to justify the additional investment. The money already spent is gone and must not influence the decision.
...and in my career I was taught The Law of First Loss:
Simply put, "The first loss is the least loss." Catastrophic, career-ending losses are usually the result of a person trying to avoid a loss by pumping more money into a past mistake. Losses can always get bigger, so recognize your losses when they're found and if you do proceed, be certain to establish narrow goals, timelines, and have an exit strategy ready to fire.
Both of these rules have proven valuable in business. They have each helped me to avoid mistakes that my heart longed to make. How very much those business principles mirror our needs for decision-making on sin.
Sometimes businesses find themselves facing hard decisions that involve losses. Likewise, sometimes we Christians find ourselves facing hard decision about sin. How the enemy got us isn't that important. Maybe it was willful, maybe it was unintentional, maybe it was a slippery slope... What is important is that we receive the awareness that we've fallen short.
Usually the very knowledge that we've fallen is a gift of God's Love reaching out to us. He gently points it out to us, just as He did for Adam and Eve after the fall in Eden.
...from my training in college I was taught the Fallacy of Sunk Cost Bias:
When you get into a large project you will be tempted to use the amount you have already spent as a justification for future spending. That is a fallacy. The money that you have yet to spend should only be spent if it will earn sufficient return to justify the additional investment. The money already spent is gone and must not influence the decision.
...and in my career I was taught The Law of First Loss:
Simply put, "The first loss is the least loss." Catastrophic, career-ending losses are usually the result of a person trying to avoid a loss by pumping more money into a past mistake. Losses can always get bigger, so recognize your losses when they're found and if you do proceed, be certain to establish narrow goals, timelines, and have an exit strategy ready to fire.
Both of these rules have proven valuable in business. They have each helped me to avoid mistakes that my heart longed to make. How very much those business principles mirror our needs for decision-making on sin.
Sometimes businesses find themselves facing hard decisions that involve losses. Likewise, sometimes we Christians find ourselves facing hard decision about sin. How the enemy got us isn't that important. Maybe it was willful, maybe it was unintentional, maybe it was a slippery slope... What is important is that we receive the awareness that we've fallen short.
Usually the very knowledge that we've fallen is a gift of God's Love reaching out to us. He gently points it out to us, just as He did for Adam and Eve after the fall in Eden.
God called out, "Where are you?"
- - Genesis 3:9
God knew where they were. He wanted Adam and Eve to look where they were.
Sometimes our minds pretend God doesn't know what we've done. Isn't it silly? But we do!And we weren't the first! Adam and Eve thought they could hide from God, too! Think about that... ...hiding from the all-knowing Lord Almighty... ...isn't that just like us?
"Where are you?"
Then, once we acknowledge we are in sin, the deception cranks up a notch. We hear those same old lies:
"This is the best I can do."
Then, once we acknowledge we are in sin, the deception cranks up a notch. We hear those same old lies:
"This is the best I can do."
"I can't go back now."
"They'll never forgive me."
"It's too late."
"I've ruined it now. It can't be fixed."
"I'm too far gone. I can't be fixed"
"What if they found out all that I've done?"
Man's heart is hard, but God's Love is perfect and the story of God's love is the story of transforming human hearts. God transforms the hearts of others and our own. Where we see the problem He sees a beloved child in trouble. Where we see despair, He sees a new beginning with all of the promise of a brand new day.
"They'll never forgive me."
"It's too late."
"I've ruined it now. It can't be fixed."
"I'm too far gone. I can't be fixed"
"What if they found out all that I've done?"
Man's heart is hard, but God's Love is perfect and the story of God's love is the story of transforming human hearts. God transforms the hearts of others and our own. Where we see the problem He sees a beloved child in trouble. Where we see despair, He sees a new beginning with all of the promise of a brand new day.
In the same curse where He damned the serpent in Eden, He gave the prophecy of His Son's coming to redeem us from our sin.
At the same time that He banned Adam and Eve (and us) from the Garden, He posted Cherubim to protect the trail to the Tree of Life so it cannot be destroyed and that we may all eat of that tree with Him forever. (see Rev. 22:2)
At the same time God called out, "Where are you?" He already knew that He would send His Son to die for that sin and He began the work of calling lost sinners home to Him that coninues to this day.
We find ourselves in sin. Neither the path that we used to get there, the price we have paid for being there, nor the blame for us going or being in sin matter. The direction of the next step is the issue that counts. We must make the sometimes wrenching decision to repent. But take heart!
At the same time that He banned Adam and Eve (and us) from the Garden, He posted Cherubim to protect the trail to the Tree of Life so it cannot be destroyed and that we may all eat of that tree with Him forever. (see Rev. 22:2)
At the same time God called out, "Where are you?" He already knew that He would send His Son to die for that sin and He began the work of calling lost sinners home to Him that coninues to this day.
We find ourselves in sin. Neither the path that we used to get there, the price we have paid for being there, nor the blame for us going or being in sin matter. The direction of the next step is the issue that counts. We must make the sometimes wrenching decision to repent. But take heart!
"On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
- Matt 9:11-13 NIV
Sinners are the focus of what Jesus is all about. Jesus ministry was all about seeking and saving and seeking and saving. The fall in Eden gave birth to this promise, God's promise, in Revelation:
“Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.
He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.- Rev 21:3-6
Remember, this promise is for "He who overcomes..."
not "He who never stumbles..."
Thank you Lord!
Go to Him. He will change hearts, he will take your wrong and use it for His good. He will pave your way. He can restore what was lost. He has restored you to Him, if you will have it.
Please consider this... Can anyone be more to blame for Jesus having to go to the cross to die than Adam? Can you not lay a portion of every sin committed by every person through all time at Adam's feet? Doesn't Romans 5:15 about Adam:
"...many died by the trespass of the one man..."
Many? Try millions and millions! With all of this laid upon him, don't forget the New Testament descriptions of Adam in God's Word. Adam's decsription is found in the family tree in Luke chapter 3:
Many? Try millions and millions! With all of this laid upon him, don't forget the New Testament descriptions of Adam in God's Word. Adam's decsription is found in the family tree in Luke chapter 3:
Lord, please, may we be found Your children, also!"...the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God."
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