Much like an elephant in the circus, many men live their lives like they’re still chained at the ankle to their past. In this video from his new Bible Study, No More Excuses, Pastor Tony Evans talks about how the Lord frees men from the stake and chain of their yesterday.
The entire video is above, and the complete transcript is below.
An elephant performs in a circus. But the reason it’s a performance creature is because when it was a baby a chain was put around its leg. And it was taught early on that when you feel the chain, pegged into the ground by a stake, you don’t move until you’re given permission to do so.
So when that elephant becomes fully grown it’s only good for performance because it was trained early on in the past to feel the stake and the chain even when it’s no longer there. And as a result, it performs in the circus. It does good. People applaud. But it’s not living up to its full potential. That is unless it goes on a rampage.
Far too many men are like that elephant. Something chained them in the past.
Maybe it was a sin.
Maybe it was a bad dad.
Maybe it was a bad environment.
Maybe it was a gang connection.
Maybe it was negative influences.
Maybe it was a bad coach.
Maybe it was an insensitive teacher.
Maybe it was a domineering parent.
It could be any number of things that has held this man hostage to yesterday, giving him his limp, his excuse, for not being the husband, the father, the worker, the churchman, the community impact person he was created to be.
But when the Lord is with you, when the Lord is with you, it changes the power of yesterday. It doesn’t make yesterday disappear, but it makes the impact of yesterday no longer consequential.
