What’s Holding You Hostage?

Like most people, I’m assuming, I have in my possession a number of watches, designed to suit the dress code and the particular occasion. I’m almost ashamed to admit this but at least four of those watches are non-functional. In fact, they have been this way for the past 6 months. Why? Simple! They all need new batteries. Wanna hear something that’s even more pathetic? I have been wearing these watches even though they serve no other function at this point in time but simply to match my outfits.

Procrastination by far, is probably the most potent threat to success. What makes one procrastinate? Well, two rationales have been presented that seem to hold some weight. There is the idea of being a perfectionist and the pressure that comes from performance and ensuring that you are executing that task with all your i’s dotted and t’s crossed. Sounds a little crazy but I can relate. The second rationale suggests that people procrastinate because they lack the confidence to do what needs to get done. With that lack of confidence comes the fear of failure.

Here’s a question for you; what’s holding you hostage? What is it that you’ve been fittin’ to do but just have not gotten around to getting it done? More important than the ‘what’ is the ‘why’. Why haven’t you started what you’ve been meaning to start? Why did you start but stopped in the middle of the process? Why haven’t you resumed where you left off and why are you still making excuses? Here are a few reasons why your life might currently be static and quite possibly stagnant:

1. Slothfulness – You are being held hostage because you simply refuse to move. If it hasn’t been done it likely will not get down until you decide to get up off your bum and do something about it! According to Proverbs 24:30, the end result from living a slothful or lazy life is a dirt-poor life with poverty as your permanent house-guest.

2. Lack of Discipline – If you are ever going to get things done, if you are ever going to make progress in your life, if you are to achieve anything of value or consequence, you are going to have to make this trait a pillar of your life. Proverbs 25:28 states this, “He who has no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls or a person without self-control is like a house with its doors and windows knocked out.” Imagine living in that kind of house!

3. Lack of Vision – It doesn’t get any simpler than this. If you have no idea of where you want to go, how will you know when you have arrived?  Proverbs 29:18 clearly expresses that, “Where there is no vision from God, the people run wild, cast off restraints, or stumble over themselves.” Having a vision or a picture of where you want to arrive at sometime from now is likely your greatest ally in getting you to move.

4.  Lack of Integrity – Integrity is a personal choice, an uncompromising and predictably consistent commitment to honor moral, ethical, spiritual and artistic values and principles. When that commitment is lacking or is weak, others will avoid interfacing with you. It then becomes difficult to get any thing done or to achieve anything of consequence in the the absence of well defined and meaningful relationships. According to Psalms 84:11, God will not withhold any good thing from those who walk uprightly or who live with integrity.

5. Wrong Environment – Environment is everything! The wrong environment has the potential to destroy you, to hinder your growth and development, and to prevent the right stuff from getting to you. No matter how healthy a seed is, no matter how much potential it has locked up on the inside, if it is not placed in the right environment, it will never grow. Psalms 1 guarantees that the man who does not walk or live in the counsel of the ungodly, following their advice or plans, nor stands in the path where sinners walk, nor sits down to relax and rest where the scornful and the mockers gather, will be happy, fortunate, and prosperous. Have you assessed your environment lately? Are you with the right people, in the right place and doing the right things?

6. Unwilling to Sacrifice – To transition from point A to point B, to achieve anything of significance in your life, it is going to cost you something. What are you willing to sacrifice to make your dreams a reality? Luke 14:28-30 admonishes us to count the cost. If you are not prepared to sacrifice, you are not prepared to live successfully.

7. Purpose Unknown – Do you even know why you are here, on the planet, i.e.? What can you do? Are you doing all that you were designed to do? Are you becoming the man or woman that your Master Manufacturer created you to be? Are we seeing and experiencing the very best of you and if not, why not? What is preventing you? What exactly is holding you hostage? Where purpose is unknown, abuse is inevitable.

8. Identity Undefined – If you do not know who you are, if you never truly discover the real you and if your identity remains undefined, almost nebulous, you can never begin to truly express your essence. If you do not believe that you were made a mirror image of your Master Designer and Manufacturer, The Lord God, and that you’ve been blessed with something of value and significance to contribute to the world, to your generation, the only evidence of your existence on earth will one day be a tomb stone in the cemetery. God gave you your identity. You are your own brand. The quicker you realize this, the sooner you will begin to assert yourself and the easier it will become to free yourself from the things, thoughts and people that work overtime to suppress the real you.

It is tough holding yourself accountable but it is absolutely necessary. Only you know where you are in your life right at this moment; whether you are making headway or you are living a life of mediocrity. Only you can truly say what it will take to get you to make that shift and it will demand honesty on your part. Remember, while you delay, the clock is still ticking. It’s time to get up and get moving!

Visit the Podcast Series tab or the Podbean Podcast page to access the associate podcast segment entitled: “What’s Holding You Hostage”.