"Releasing the Old" inspired by Adrian Rogers' devotional

The title of this devotional by Adrian Rogers caught my attention. The devotional is listed below, but you can find it online by clicking here.

Releasing the Old—Taking Hold of the Best
February 10

“I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength.” Psalm 18:1

Have you ever tried to get a bone away from a dog? It’s not too easy, unless you have something better for him. Try offering a T-bone steak, and that dog will drop his bone like a bad habit.

In the same way, the writer of Hebrews tried to encourage the Jewish Christians, new believers who had a tendency to cling to the old customs of the Old Testament, to leave the dry bones of ceremonies and feast upon the delights of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It’s a lesson we all must appropriate in our lives. It can become comfortable for us to hold to our traditions, rather than try something new. But friend, there is no one and nothing that can compare with Jesus. You may learn to love Jesus better, but you can never love anything better than Jesus. Ask God to begin showing you the delights of a close relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

My aim is to encourage both those who do and those who doin't believe in Christ. Let's take these words a step further and apply it to our lives--that is, our daily interactons. How have we viewed this time of change? Have you arrived where you expected to be? If so, congratulations! Your time of change was worth it and now you are at a place in life where you can handle the duties before you responsibly and without damaging the lives of those around you that look up to you.

But for those of us who aren't where we expected to be yet, have you gotten stuck where you are? I mean, you know that you're a different person than when you started, but have you gotten rid of those actios and habits that keep you from moving forward? You know, like procrastination, laziness, an easily frustrated personality, etc. Where we're headed, where we think we want to go, will not permit us to bring these mannerisms along. Living in our dream and maintaining that dream is going to take more than we've ever given before, and bringing these mannerisms along will only help to quickly shatter dreams we've envisioned for so long.


"Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved." (Matthew 9:17 KJV)