Room To Grow Series

ROOM TO GROW (GENESIS 17:1-19)

Skating great Michelle Kwan had won every title but the Olympics. Twice Michelle Kwan failed to land the big prize at Winter Olympics Figure Skating Championship. In 1998 she was placed second and in 2002 she dropped to third. Each time she bravely congratulated the winner, evaluated her situation and pondered her participation in the next Olympics. Since then, apart from the commercial endorsements, it was not plain sailing and not what the Los Angeles native had bargained for. Critics and reporters said she was too old, too cautious, and too mechanical. They harped that the jumps were the same, her routine had no edge and her rivals were more exciting.

The twenty-year old Michelle had won the U.S. Figure Skating Championship nine times and the International Championship five times, but a year before the 2002 Winter Olympics in Utah she confessed, “It doesn’t get easier. It gets harder and harder. You have to stay on top of your game.” (San Gabriel Valley Tribune 1/22/01)

Here are some quotes on personal growth and development:

“Behold the turtle. He only makes progress when he sticks his neck out.” (James Bryant Conant, former president of Harvard)

“If you have always done it that way, it is probably wrong.” (Charles Kettering)

“It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.” (Epictetus)

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” (Leo Tolstoy)

“We know what we are, but know not what we may be.” (William Shakespeare)

In Genesis 17, Abram had settled comfortably in Canaan, Sarai and Hagar had suspended their rivalry, and even Ishmael, who Abram fathered when he was eighty-six, was a teenage 13 (Gen 16:16, 17:1). Abram did not have much before, but now had plentiful of silver and gold (Gen 13:2) on top of livestock and servants (Gen 12:16). Two chapters ago, God promised the land and an offspring to Abraham, but now the subject had finally shifted to the identity and the mother of Abraham’s offspring, Sarai.

Is your faith going forward, moving ahead, or making progress? Genesis 17 is about a continual desire to grow in faith, to live a stirring Christian life and to make a difference in the world. How do we make an impact after weeks and months and years of the same thing? What is missing in your life? What are the first steps to rekindle the flame?

Improve Your Relationship with God

17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. 2 I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.” 3 Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. (Gen 17:1-2)

I have my fair share of adult breakthroughs, usually when my age ends with a “0.” At 30, I graduated with a solid education from Dallas with a Master of Theology degree, laying the foundation of Bible study, original languages and preaching.

It took another decade for me to bloom and blossom in ministry. At 40, I was to teach preaching at the only accredited Chinese seminary in the States, a rare opportunity that escaped many. Around that time I also released my first book.

Students begin to look up to me and listen to me, coworkers started to notice me, and magazines ask for my articles.

By 50, I was in Hong Kong and out of nowhere God gave me the heart and burden to mentor new coworkers in teaching and preaching, and mentor some of them as well. My big break in publishing occurred when Hong Kong’s biggest book publisher Tien Dao published my first book in 2010. Most publishers expect a book to be sold out in five years. My second book caught fire, selling out within a year, catching my publisher by surprise because books have lost their popularity.

It’s been said, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” Former CEO of Disney Michael Eisner once said that a man must renew himself once every seven years.

Abram was 75 (Gen 12:4) when he departed out of Haran, now he was 99 years old (v 1), 24 years later. Ironically, God gave Abraham a big surprise, a big present and a big lesson at the time he least expected and suspected it, 24 years after Ishmael’s birth, a year short of quarter of a century (Gen 16:16).

To renew oneself is to make fresh and alive one’s relationship to God, to be richer, deeper and stronger in faith. It is to reverse, to turn around from an extended period of stagnated growth, declining expectations and established routines. It is the answer to the SOS crisis - same old stuff. To remain focused after many years of decline is a need, a challenge and a task.