The Closure

In my time of devotion, I was reading an article by Joyce Meyer who recorded these words, “The devil wants each of us to concentrate on how far we have fallen, rather than how far we have risen. Satan wants us to focus on our pasts instead of our futures and on how far we have come. He wants us to think about how many times we fail, rather than how many times we succeed. But God wants us to focus on our strengths and not our weaknesses, our victories and not our losses, our joys and not our problems.”

Church in order for us to reach the prize of the high calling, (that is in order to get to that destined God-ordained place in our lives), we must bring a closure to some things. So briefly, I want to address the subject: “The Closure.” When we look at our text this morning, we see that even God, after a period of time, brought a closure to the status quo of the antediluvians (these are the people who lived before the flood). Look at Genesis 7:16, “And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in” (KJV). I believe, God got tired of the sin that permeated His beautiful creation (say creation) so God made a decision to kill that, which was unlike Him and those that were of His image and likeness God allowed them to continue to live in His beauty. So it should be with us. Foremost, we must make a conscience decision to an obedient representation of God (afterall, disobedient is not of God). Look at the scripture, it states, “And they that went---as God had commanded him.” This word went in this context simply means ‘to obey’. So, Noah willfully went (he willfully obeyed) and his family followed suit; they made a decision to hearken to the voice of God. After they went, they choose to leave things behind. It’s in the text, the scripture says, “they that went.” Church not only did they go but they went in (into the ark under the covering of God). They decided to leave their old life, their old environment behind and to bring a closure to things. We too must leave some things behind and bring a closure to them. Now, maybe we need to leave and close:

· The company, so-called friends that we keep

· To the conversations we should or not speak

· Trying to be Mrs. Jones (impressing others)

· To meddling in others business

· To self-righteousness (thinking you’re better than others)

· To low self-esteem (not believing your precious in God’s sight)

· Kill trusting in our abilities and relying in God’s capabilities

It’s virtually impossible to do this if we continue to allow the devil to placate our minds and we consistently think about our past lifestyle and behavior. I personally know how hard it gets at times to put a closure to things. Our human tendency is to think if we do, then it’s all over. But that is far from the truth and a trick of the devil. I’m here to tell you that we must birth A Closure the past and think positive. We must press on. It’s in our pressing on that we will finally reach that destiny that God has ordained. However, in order to do that, our mindset must change.

See, quite often when we think of closure we think of an ending. But closure doesn’t necessarily constitute ending; rather closure is the means to a new beginning. Let me see if I can explain this a little better. For example, when one sets out to purchase a home, that individual has to do a closure on the property. This house closure is the transference of property ownership. The current owner relinquishes the property to the new owner. So actually, it’s not a closure (an ending) but a new beginning for both parties. Neither party would have been able to reach their goal had they decided to hold onto the past.

In our text this morning, God did exactly the same thing for Noah and his family. When God closed the door to the ark, God implemented “The Closure” and birth the pattern of procreation, a new life -- a new beginning -- a new environment.

The pattern of procreation is that something has to die, that is a closure is required, in order for new birth to come forth. One example of this process, this closure is the procreation of the butterfly. When I was in Aruba, I visited the butterfly farm. At this farm, the attendant explained the procreation of the butterfly. In order for the butterfly to come forth – metamorphosis takes place. Initially the butterfly is in the form of an egg. From that it becomes a larva (or better known as a caterpillar). Then the caterpillar is enclosed in a pupa that hangs from the tree. The pupa sheds its skin and dies. Finally out comes a beautiful butterfly. It’s the same with us. In order for something different, beautiful to come forth in us, we have to deliberately make a decision to bring a closure to some things and allow metamorphosis to occur within our soul and spirit – so we can fly like the butterfly. It may be time consuming and it may not necessarily be easy (as it wasn’t for the butterfly) but I believe with all my heart, it will be worth it.