Joel Osteen sermon Kiss It Goodbye: Joel Osteen talks to us today about “kiss it goodbye.” there’s a lady in the scripture named Naomi; she left Bethlehem with her husband and two sons because of a famine. They moved to the city of Moab, where they had plenty of food life was good until her husband unexpectedly died.
She’d never dreamed she’d be a widow, ten years later, both of her grown sons passed away, she was so discouraged she decided to move back home to Bethlehem. She told her two daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah, that they should move back to their hometowns as well and start a new life.
Ruth said, “no, Naomi. I’m staying with you. I’m going to Bethlehem to help take care of you.” the other daughter-in-law, Orpah took her advice and said she was going to leave and move back home. You would think Naomi would have been a little sour and thought, “after all I have done for you, Orpah, you’re going to leave me now at my lowest moment? You can go get remarried, you can find another job; I’m an old lady. Who is going to take care of me?” she could have felt betrayed, insulted Instead, the scripture says Naomi kissed Orpah goodbye.
Orpah represented the broken dreams, the hurts, the disappointments, the things she didn’t understand. Naomi was saying, by that kiss, “life has thrown me a curve, it hasn’t been fair, but I’m at peace. I know God is still in control.”
If you are going to reach your destiny, you have to learn to kiss things goodbye. You’re not going understand everything that happens, people may walk away, life may not turn out the way you thought, it’s easy to get bitter, hold a grudge, lose your passion, but do like Naomi, kiss the bitterness goodbye kiss the person that left
You goodbye. Kiss the dream that didn’t work out goodbye.
God wouldn’t have allowed it to happen if he didn’t have something better up in front of you, but sometimes God will close the door. He’ll move people out of your life, there are people and opportunities that were ordained for your past that are not ordained for your future, they were right for a season, but that season can come to an end.
The key is how we handle the closed doors, how you handle the disappointments, how you handle the people that treated you wrong. Sometimes instead of kissing them goodbye, we smack them goodbye. “Good riddance”. I didn’t like you in the first place don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”
Naomi could have turned away angry, thought, “I’m not going to kiss you, orpah. Some friend you are.” that would have kept her from the new things God had in store. She moved back to Bethlehem with her daughter-in-law, Ruth. Ruth married Boaz, a wealthy man that owned all the land. They had a baby; Naomi took care of their son like he was her own, after all she had been through, all the broken dreams, all the loss, while holding the little baby, Naomi said, in effect, “I never dreamed I could be this happy, this fulfilled.” her latter days were better than her former days.
God knows how to give you beauty for ashes, he knows how to turn mourning into dancing, but it would have never happened if she had not kissed orpah goodbye. Are you at peace with your past, or are you bitter over the loss, upset because your plans didn’t work out? Pastor Joel Osteen wants us to know that it’s time to kiss some things goodbye.
Credit : Joel Osteen Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/c/joelosteen)