Letting go of Mo

Life frequently requires: in order for us to receive one thing, we must let go of another.

Married? Gotta let go of the single life.

Have a child? Gotta let go of some freedoms.

Getting healthy? Gotta let go of some unhealthy habits.

In order to grasp the future, we must sever ties with some things of our past.

If we really want to receive something new, we must be willing to let go of something old.

In order to cross over, we must separate ourselves from anything we cannot take forward with us.

As God led his people from Egypt towards the Promised Land, he prepared them for change…

The Israelites had to let go of the wilderness in order to receive Canaan.

They couldn’t have the wilderness AND Canaan.

They couldn’t have Joshua AND keep Moses.

They had to let go.

They had to let go of the wilderness and the lifestyle associated with it (camping, manna, etc.).

They had to let go of Mo.

The things they had to release weren’t bad—they were just never meant to be part of the next season.

Here’s a difficult question to consider…

What things were valid parts of your yesterday—but have no place in your tomorrow?

Historically, the church has not been good at letting go… we want to possess the new AND still keep the old.

God didn’t want Joshua to have to live in the shadow of Moses.

The death of Moses symbolized an end to the previous way of doing things.

The old regime had its day. Those things were relevant in their day, but they have long since passed away.

Leading the Israelites to posses the New Territory would require different strategies and methods.

Joshua knew he couldn’t lead the people the same way Moses did.

The challenges before them were different.

A new generation had come up.

They weren’t where they used to be and they hadn’t arrived yet.

It was a new day. They were crossing over—moving forward, advancing.

The new day required new things: new leadership, new methods, new structures and new strategies.

In order to receive the new, they had to let go of the old.

They had to let go of Mo…

And so do we.

We gotta let go of Mo.

We must release the “Moses mentalities” and “Moses traditions” of our past.

In order for us to receive one thing, we must let go of another.

In order to grasp the future, we must sever ties with some things of our past.

If we really want to receive something new, we must be willing to let go of something old.

In order to cross over, we must separate ourselves from anything we cannot take forward with us.

Letting go of Mo means saying “yes” to crossing over into the new territory.