One day Jesus and Moses went out to play golf. Jesus humbly offered to let Moses play first. Moses put the ball on the tee, squared it, swung his club and hit the ball… up… up… up… down… down… down… SPLASH! He landed right in the water hazard! “No problem,” Moses said with a smile. He stepped into the water, stretched out his club, the water parted on dry land and he hit the ball straight onto the green.
Now Jesus stepped forward. He teeed the ball, squared up, swung his club and hit the ball…up…up…up…down…down…down…SPLASH! He landed right in the water hazard! “No problem,” Jesus said with a smile. He walked to the water, stepped into the pond, walked to where he hit the ball, commanded the ball to come up and when he did, he swung his club and shot the ball onto the green. The two started laughing together. At about the same time, a little old man came up to the tee.
This old man put the ball on the tee, squared it, swung his club and hit the ball…up…up…up…down…down…down…
Then a fish jumped up and swallowed the ball, an eagle flew down and caught the fish out of the air! The eagle flew high in the sky, lightning struck the eagle, the eagle released the fish, the fish hit the ground, the ball shot out of the fish and landed right in the hole.
Jesus just rolled his eyes and said, “Nice shot, Dad.”
I’m sharing this with you not only to tell you a funny joke, but also to share something that I think the Lord has been revealing to me lately. You see, while this is probably one of my favorite jokes, there is a very important truth to it that could potentially change our lives. When we think of Moses and the Red Sea, we think of the parting of the waters. When we think of Jesus we tend to think of walking on water, lifting up the inescapable, and humility. When we focus on God, we see that he continues to do more and more of what we expect in miraculous and creative ways. These are standard thoughts because they expected no less of themselves in these situations.
There has been a standard set. Have you ever noticed that we rarely get what we want or desire, but we always get what we should? I discovered that when something becomes essential in my life, it also becomes a reality shortly after. The reason for this is simple. When we allow things to become a must, our mind shifts to a point of decision. I called this the “congruence trigger”. This is that one thing that changes your thinking of wanting to have or should have in your life. It becomes a decision instead of a wish.
If I wanted more time with my wife and didn’t change my schedule, I would still want to spend time with her, but I would still be short of the time I wanted. If I wanted more income for my household but didn’t improve my value in the workplace, work more hours, or start my own business, it wouldn’t matter how strong my desire was. I would have to make changes. Now let’s say my wife got pregnant, she got sick and couldn’t work anymore and my brother showed up saying he had no place to live and no job. This would be a congruence trigger for me. There is absolutely no way that my current situation can be consistent with my desire for more income and more time with my wife.
Once I set a standard for more time with my wife and higher income for my family, this congruence trigger would force me to make decisions that would make my life consistent with the standard I had set. He would have to make decisions. A decision is simply this: cut and eliminate every other option… to bring your standard and your life situation into line.
What standards have you set today? I encourage you to find an area of your life today where you can identify a longing or desire and then commit to making it a standard. Nest I’ll talk a bit more about designing your own congruence triggers instead of relying on circumstances to force those changes into your life.