The Moral Compass Chronicles
An audio time capsule centered around morality - encouraging people around the world on the importance of governing one’s life in a morally [and biblically] sound manner!
The Moral Compass Chronicles
Be Steadfast, Anchored, & Immovable
This episode explores the profound meaning of steadfastness, especially in the midst of life's storms. We discuss personal challenges, the significance of holding onto our purpose, and how our scars can transform into sources of strength, while emphasizing the importance of community support and resilience.
Welcome to another rendition of the Moral Compass Chronicles. You already know I'm your boy, I'm your man, I'm your host, I'm your tour guide, Eyon Johnson, you can find me just about everywhere that you are able to find people. I'm on Instagram, I'm on Twitter, I'm on TikTok All that, eyonjayy E-Y-O-N-J-A-Y-Y, that's two Y's at the end. You can find me on YouTube, facebook, at Eyon Johnson, ok, and I am very excited to be back with you guys. I have had a very, very busy last few weeks and it's been tough. It's been tough, very interesting, interesting man. Um, my mom was in the hospital. She's out.
Speaker 1:I've had several occasions where I've had to preach over the last few weeks, not necessarily something I look forward to. It's just mostly because of how difficult it is on the mind and the spirit. But I have done what I had to do. Thanks be to god, man, man and I, and even my wife you know she wasn't feeling too well recently she's doing better, both her and my mom. Everybody's doing better. I thank God that everybody is all right, man, and I am just here yet again, man, to break some bread with you guys. Okay, man, I tell you, these last few weeks have truly shown me how important it is for us to remain in the fight and to remain steadfast in whatever we're doing, and that is what I want to talk about today. I already knew this is where I wanted to go, based on how my last few weeks have gone and how I have been feeling over the last few weeks.
Speaker 1:The topic for my church this year, our word of the year or topic for the year, is actually being steadfast. Um, coming from the book of Hebrews, chapter three, and you can go ahead and read that on your own time, and so I kind of want to dive into that today. My last few weeks have shown me how important it is to be steadfast man. Um, what is? What does it mean to be steadfast man? What does it mean to be steadfast? What does steadfast mean? And I'll just kind of dive right into it. Some of the words that come to mind when I think about the word steadfast consistent, consistency, stability, firm I saw one definition that I kind of pieced together with something else Firmly fixed and settled in place. So, firm and settled, that's what. That's what being steadfast is. And, uh, committed, anchored.
Speaker 1:And then, when I think about the word anchored, an anchor is heavy, an anchor is when an anchor is dropped and I really didn't waste no time, right, right, when an anchor gets dropped, an anchor does not move and obviously it depends on how heavy it is. But when you drop an anchor, you ever see a ship, you see how that ship drops the anchor. Those big crew ships may have more than one, but when a ship drops an anchor, it doesn't just drop the anchor and then, oh, the anchor is heavier than the ship, so the ship won't move. No, when you drop an anchor, it drops down into the water and it actually goes a little bit underneath the surface, underneath the water. It'll drop down and go below the dirt that is under the water. It'll drop down and go below the dirt that is under the water. And now, if the ship were to try to move, it's not just being weighed down by the anchor, but the anchor would have to. It's like it's dropped and it catches, as Jamaicans would say, it catches onto the ground. And now for the ship to move, that anchor would have to not just drag the weight of the anchor, but it would have to drag the weight of the anchor through the dirt that is below the water and that makes it tougher for the ship to move. That makes it tougher for the anchor to move. So when something is anchored, it is, it becomes immovable.
Speaker 1:Ok, I think about First Corinthians, chapter 15. It tells us, our beloved brethren, to be steadfast and unmovable. That is what steadfast is All right, what steadfast is All right, and being steadfast as it pertains to not just like our faith and our mindset, our state of mind, to think about being steadfast in terms of the moral compass chronicles. I think about being being loyal to the compass. Watch this, watch this. Being steadfast in whatever it is that we're doing. You are. It is your job to be consistent and stable and firm and settled to your compass when you determine the proper direction. However, it is that one determines the direction that they want to go in in life, the direction that they believe God is leading them in. Once you determine that you remain on that path and pointed and traveling in that proper direction. That's what I think about when I say being loyal or being consistent to the compass, remaining on the right path in spite of what may come. And storms keep on raging in my life. Sometimes it's hard to even tell the night from day, based on the things that are going on in our lives. That is when it is most important for us to remain steadfast.
Speaker 1:You only, a lot of times you think about traveling, you think about the compass correct and you know you're going in a particular direction. So now we're thinking about traveling and a lot of times you're traveling and you have your GPS or you have your map and sometimes you may have to detour because of something that is going on in on the road or on. You know there's a lot going on with planes and flights and stuff. Right now you may have to detour based off the weather or based on what's going on in the sky, based on what's going on on your path. But you only detour if you must. You only detour if it's best for you to do so and if it makes sense. That is when you you call inaudible, if I can put it in football terms, when somebody calls inaudible, they are changing directions. They are sort of altering the plan that they had because of the circumstance, the plan that they had because of the circumstance. You have to alter your plan sometimes.
Speaker 1:All right, but it is important for us when we figure out and we determine that a particular path is what's best for us. A particular path is one that is best for our family. It is important that we remain steadfast on that path, maintaining a firm resistance to any temptation or any idea to desert or betray our current position. That's another uh definition I conjured up based off a few things I saw. Being steadfast is the idea of maintaining a firm resistance to anything or anyone that would cause me to betray my current position and where I am currently going, the road I am currently traveling on.
Speaker 1:Sometimes the cares of life and the things that go on in our lives, they cause us to want to jump ship and, as I just said, they may cause us to want to desert or betray the plan I I talk about. I have, I heard this. I heard Bishop Dexter Edmond one time preaching about not what did he say? I'm sorry, and I talked to one of my little brothers about this all the time. He was talking about deviating from the plan and I don't want to go too much into that and I don't want to go too much into that, but that is what happens when a lot of times, these things in our life and temptation is not always oh, temptation, you know from the enemy, but you know just these things in our life. They cause us oftentimes to deviate from the plan and to deviate oftentimes to deviate from the plan and to deviate from the direction that we are going in. It gets dangerous when we now start to deviate.
Speaker 1:Based on these things in our life, instead of remaining steadfast, we may find ourselves deviating from the purpose and the calling that is on our lives. A lot of times there is somewhere that God wants us to be and, based on the things that happen, we find ourselves deviating from what God wants us to be doing and where he wants us to be heading. And All right, but that's where that's what being steadfast is in spite of Nevertheless I was just talking to my brother recently about a message we heard. Nevertheless, in spite of what's going on, although the storms keep on raging in my life, although it is hard for me to tell the night from day, although trials and tribulations they are constantly arising, although we are living in perilous times, as the word tells me and as we currently see, if you are somebody who has two eyes, you have two ears you are able to see what is going on in this world. You are able to hear what is going on in this world. You can see and hear these things, and you know that we are currently living in perilous times.
Speaker 1:Although we are living in perilous times, I will remain steadfast in my calling. I will remain steadfast on the job. I will remain steadfast in my schooling, in my calling, in my purpose. Nevertheless, I will remain steadfast. Nevertheless, I will remain consistent. I will remain anchored and unmovable in the things that I know to be true. We live in a world where many people and I don't want to go too into this, because this is not the topic for today, but, quite frankly, this is the moral compass chronicles and truth comes out right. So I know I'm living in a world where there are people who don't know who God is. They don't know who God is. They don't know who God is. There are many people who serve themselves, and I don't want to go there. I don't want to go there. You know what happens when I go there, so I'm going to to go there. I don't want to go there. You know what happens when I go there, so I'm gonna leave that alone. We're living in that type of world, though. My brothers and sisters, beloved ones.
Speaker 1:It is important for us, those of us who know the truth, to remain steadfast in who God is, what it is that he wants from us. It is imperative that during these times, we remain unmovable, we stay and we stand firm, firmly fixed and settled in place. Very important for us to do that. Very important I started to talk about Very important. I started to talk about the things that we go through my, my brothers, my sisters. Yo, it's tough man. There is so much that we deal with oh my God, bro, can I get real for a second, or can I stay real? There is so much that we go through. Oh, my goodness. There's so much that we're doing, so much that we have done, so much that we have gone through and so much that we are currently going through.
Speaker 1:For somebody, it's work, it's the work situation For somebody. Remaining steadfast on the job is where your focus needs to be. Whether that's not the job that you want to have or you're not working, you're looking for a job. You're you. You know there you got problems with, with co-workers or your supervisors or the the actual job that it is you're doing.
Speaker 1:I used to be in sales and I found it difficult to be in sales because it wasn't often that I believed in what I was selling. A lot of times I was in sales and I worked a particular job and it was because I needed a job. And so now I'm finding myself selling and sometimes, when you're selling, you're in sales, you find yourself selling out. Watch it now Some of us that are in sales. We're in sales and we're making money, but we're selling out in order to make that money and we're in sales and we're taking advantage of people because that's where our bread is buttered in sales. Oftentimes that it was difficult for me to for me to be in sales because I didn't work many jobs that I believed in and it was tough for me to sell products to people who didn't need it and it was tough for me to exaggerate what the customer needed. And oftentimes we're working for companies and we're working for individuals who it is their job to get us to sell. No matter what, at the end of the day, it was our job to sell the product.
Speaker 1:I've heard my pastor say it's tough for a Christian to be a lawyer. And lawyers, don't, don't kill me now, don't crucify me, because sometimes, when you're a lawyer, you've got to lie and sometimes, when you're a lawyer, you have to avoid what you know to be the truth in order to defend your client. And that's why I'm working on becoming a mediator and not a lawyer, because a mediator is on the side of the truth. A mediator is is Switzerland, where you find yourself sitting on the fence between two parties, because that's where the truth lies, oftentimes right in the middle. Right, there's three sides to every story right, your truth, my truth and the truth, which is typically a combination of both of those things. Right? So oftentimes, work is where I need to remain steadfast. And so now me in sales. I had to move myself out of that, because Now it becomes a problem of ethics.
Speaker 1:Right, but somebody is struggling on the job, somebody is struggling in school, where? School? It may be tough for you to keep up, maybe not so much high school, and I know even high school is tough for some people but college, maybe it's tough to keep up with the workload and work a job at the same time. Maybe, maybe it's tough to balance school and the social life and all the extracurriculars that college has to offer. Maybe, maybe you've graduated, know and gotten your bachelor's and you're on to further schooling. You're looking to become a doctor. You're looking to become a nurse. You're looking to do these different things. A lawyer, as I just mentioned, right? Nothing wrong with that, I suppose. If that's the path you want to be on, just be ethical about it. But school is tough and some of us need to remain steadfast in school.
Speaker 1:Our calling and our purpose, whatever those things may be, you know and come on, beloved ones, those of you who are listening to this, you know who you are and you know who God has called you to be. And you know and if you don't allow me to help you to figure it out Seek the Lord, seek ye first, the kingdom of God and his righteousness and everything that you are looking for, the answers that you are looking for, the answers that you are looking for will be added unto you. I assure you of that fact. I know that to be true. I have found my calling, I have found my purpose in this world and in God, and I want to help you do the same thing. I want to help you do the same thing because there is a need for you, you who are listening.
Speaker 1:There is a need in this world for you and what you bring to the table what you have to offer, what God has placed inside of you. There is a need for it. I heard my sister say there is a need in the earth, and you've heard me mention this on this podcast. There is a need for it. I heard my sister say there is a need in the earth, and you've heard me mention this on this podcast. There is a need in the earth for who you are and what you bring to the table. It is necessary Because who you are and what you bring to the table after you remain steadfast through everything that it is, you are going through the way God is going to use you. And allow me to prophesy into the life of somebody here today, if you're under the sound of my voice remaining steadfast through the trials and the tribulations, through the difficulties.
Speaker 1:Some of us have had difficulties growing up, through our childhood, all the way to this point, some of the things that we have been through. I talked about some of the stuff that we're doing currently. Right, some of us are working, Some of us are in school, but what about the stuff that we have gone through in our lives? Some of these very unfortunate things? I don't even want to start naming stuff, bro, but I was just talking about this to somebody. Some of these things that we have gone through in our lives we have the scars to prove it Some of us have been physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and financially abused, and we have the scars to prove it. But I want to encourage somebody on today, I want to prophesy into the life of somebody on today that the fact that you remained steadfast through it all and you have the scars to prove it it's those very same scars that you are going to be able to use to help somebody else get through what they're going through. It's those very same scars and and you know what?
Speaker 1:I was saying that two scars can do two things to us. Right, and it's getting a little warm in here, I don't know about you, but, but scars have the ability to do two things oftentimes. And and two things that I want to highlight right, those scars can remind me of the pain. Those scars, when I see them and I feel them and I remember them, those scars can put me into a dark place sometimes, and I'm talking to us, I'm talking about us, right, those scars can put us In a dark place where they Remind us of those things that we have dealt with, those places in our life that we have been, the abuse that we went through Mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually. Those scars can remind us and alter our mood negatively. But those scars can also uplift us. Those scars can remind us that yo, I went through hell and I came out alive. I went through that fire. I went through that mental abuse. I went through that depression and that anxiety. I went through that physical abuse when I was a child. I went through those things and I have the scars to prove it. But those scars remind me that I went through it and I came out of it. I went through it and I had to endure it and I dealt with it, but I came out of it. Those situations knocked me down but they didn't knock me out.
Speaker 1:The devil tried to use them to kill me. Now here is where he comes in, because oftentimes these things that we went through, god didn't put us through it. Sometimes, these things that we went through and we blame the devil for everything, but it's God who gave us the choice. But it's God who gave us the choice, and the enemy has a way of impressing upon people's minds and their hearts and allowing them to do evil things and tempting them to do evil things. And a lot of times we are on the receiving end of that evil and he tried to use it to kill me. He tried to use it to keep me bound. He tried to use it to keep me out, but I'm reminded. I'm reminded that I'm still here today because God kept me. I'm alive today because of his grace and he kept me so that I wouldn't let go. I almost let go.
Speaker 1:There was a time where, I know you felt like you couldn't take life anymore. A lot of these times, and a lot of times rather, these different things lead us and lead some of us to suicide. They lead some of us to drinking and smoking and and trying to find a vice in this world to cope. Some of us are cutting ourselves. Some of us have tried to kill ourselves ourselves. Some of us have tried to kill ourselves. Some of us have tried to harm ourselves because you know what the pain of that thing that I endured? It is too much and it was too much for me to want to live with, and so people we find ourselves inflicting pain on ourselves now in order to escape that pain that we have been so accustomed to.
Speaker 1:But you, my brother, you're still here. You, my sister, you are still here, and I'm here to encourage you today to remain steadfast. I'm here to remind you and encourage you that those things that you went through do not define who you are. Those things that you dealt with, they are not who you are and they will not Determine the trajectory of the rest of your life. You will determine that. You will decide that, and I want to encourage you to be strong, and be strong in the Lord and the power of his might.
Speaker 1:Where you are weak, he is strong. Where you are poor, he's rich. And he just sent me To remind you Of these things. Have you Not known Beloved ones? Have you not known Beloved ones? Have you not heard that the everlasting God, the creator Of the ends of the earth, the creator of all things as we know it, he fainted not, neither is he weary. He gives power to those who are weak, and he will continue to increase your strength. This is your reminder. This is your reminder. I love you. I'm praying for you all, man, because we're all going through something, we're all dealing with something, we're all dealing with something, and I just want you to know that you're not in it alone. You're not in it alone, man. This is the Moral Compass Chronicles Until next time, until we meet again.