{"id":175,"date":"2016-12-30T00:49:34","date_gmt":"2016-12-30T00:49:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/drbobewell.com\/?p=175"},"modified":"2016-12-30T00:49:34","modified_gmt":"2016-12-30T00:49:34","slug":"resolution-no-labanizing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/?p=175","title":{"rendered":"Resolution: No Labanizing!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s make our primary New Year\u2019s Resolution: I will not Labanize<\/em>! <\/p>\n

You don\u2019t know the word Labanize<\/em>?! You probably don\u2019t since I\u2019m the one who invented it (as far as I know) a few years ago and haven\u2019t published it except in an article in a church newspaper! What is Labanizing <\/em>and why do I not want to do it? Please read on!<\/p>\n

I write and speak frequently about the benefits of various spiritual disciplines such as daily time with God or the importance of being on mission, but often I encounter people who smile and nod but don\u2019t ever get started. Many of us are like Laban in Genesis 24.<\/p>\n

Genesis 24 contains the beautiful story of Abraham\u2019s (unnamed) servant who undertakes a long and treacherous journey to find a wife for Abraham\u2019s son, Isaac. It\u2019s a story of faith, prayer, sovereignty of God, and guidance. After he encounters Rebekah, the wife-to-be, the servant tells Rebekah\u2019s mother and Rebekah\u2019s brother, Laban, the story of God\u2019s leading. He concludes with:<\/p>\n

I praised GOD, the God of my master Abraham who had led me straight to the door of my master\u2019s family to get a wife for his son. (Genesis 24:48, MSG)<\/em><\/p>\n

But the question is, will Rebekah\u2019s family let her go? The servant needs to know:<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, tell me what you are going to do. If you plan to respond with a generous yes, tell me. But if not, tell me plainly so I can figure out what to do next.\u201d (Genesis 24:49, MSG)<\/em><\/p>\n

What is Laban\u2019s response? Is he opposed to Rebekah\u2019s returning with the servant to become a bride for Isaac? Apparently not:<\/p>\n

Laban answered, \u201cThis is totally from GOD. We have no say in the matter, either yes or no. Rebekah is yours: Take her and go; let her be the wife of your master\u2019s son, as GOD has made plain.\u201d (Genesis 24:50 \u2013 51, MSG)<\/em><\/p>\n

So the servant prepared to do just that, but notice Laban\u2019s reaction:<\/p>\n

[The servant] and his men had supper and spent the night. But first thing in the morning they were up. He said, \u201cSend me back to my master.\u201d<\/em>
\n[Laban] said, \u201cLet the girl stay a while, say another ten days, and then go.\u201d (Genesis 24:54 \u2013 55, MSG)<\/em><\/p>\n

Laban was all for Rebekah\u2019s leaving as long as she didn\u2019t have to leave now<\/em><\/strong>. \u201cWhy isn\u2019t later all right? No need to rush into these things. There are preparations to be made, parties to give. We have to get used to the idea\u2026.\u201d <\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t work on the servant. <\/p>\n

He said, \u201cOh, don\u2019t make me wait! GOD has worked everything out so well\u2014send me off to my master.\u201d (Genesis 24:56, MSG)<\/em><\/p>\n

How about us? How often do we \u201cLabanize<\/em>\u201d? We say, \u201cI can see why daily time with God is a good thing, but I don\u2019t have time right now<\/em><\/strong>. Maybe later.\u201d \u201cI know I should be involved in mission, but I really don\u2019t have time either to do it or to learn how to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

How many practices are we wildly enthusiastic about as long as we don\u2019t have to do them now<\/em><\/strong>? (In addition to spiritual disciplines, diet and exercise come to mind!) How many good ideas for change do we endorse as long as they don\u2019t have to be implemented now<\/em><\/strong>? What personal sacrifices are we willing to make\u2014just not right now<\/strong><\/em>?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s make 2017 the year we quit Labanizing <\/em>and get started! I have written a little book, Join the Adventure! A Practical Guide to Mission and Discipleship for Everyone<\/a>. You can read about it and order it by clicking the Join the Adventure<\/strong> tab at the top of this page. One key idea is starting small\u2014pushing over the \u00bc-inch domino that sets off a great chain reaction. And this blog is not meant to be a book promotion! There is enough information on the Join the Adventure<\/strong> tab to get you started whether you buy the book or not!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s make our primary New Year\u2019s Resolution: I will not Labanize! You don\u2019t know the word Labanize?! You probably don\u2019t since I\u2019m the one who invented it (as far as I know) a few years ago and haven\u2019t published it except in an article in a church newspaper! What is Labanizing and why do I … Continue reading Resolution: No Labanizing!<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8X9bo-2P","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=175"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":178,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175\/revisions\/178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}