Paradigm Sift

UV 1657/10000 Paradigm Sift
For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.
Amos 9 v 9
Every few years, mankind comes up with a new cliché or expression that almost everyone in the know of things or in leadership and management positions use frequently. One such expression is “ paradigm shift”. But in reality, we see very little change happening in human behaviour or in the impact on lives and destiny of individuals, organisations and nations. More than paradigm shift what we need is a "paradigm sift" where we sift and sort out our default patterns, interrupt and disrupt the normal patterns of our beliefs, values, thoughts, speech, actions and reactions. The default patterns that are a result of our human conditioning are the chaff that need to be separated from the grain. The grain are the faithful people while scripture constantly refers to the godless and faithless as the chaff that the wind blows away. The Lord uses our life’s circumstance and event to sift us, to separate the chaff from the grain. What we need is not a paradigm shift but a paradigm sift where we choose patterns of life that are God-pleasing and faith-building.

While the Lord uses circumstances and events to sift the patterns of those who live in ignorance of the principle of faith, He uses the Word as a sieve to sift our patterns of belief, work and living. The purpose of sifting is to separate what is useful from an eternal perspective from what is not useful. We should constantly examine our patterns of belief, expression, thought, action and reaction so that we more and more conform to the patterns of the Word and not those of the world. We need to constantly eliminate from our lives the negatives. We need to put ourselves on an “elimination diet” of removing anger, hatred, jealousy, bitterness, depression, laziness, lust, pride and insensitivity from our lives. The Holy Spirit will continually highlight the areas where we need to focus.

Sifting of patterns is needed to make us more effective and productive or fruitful. The Lord sifts His people before He deals with others. The more we yield to the Lord and His Word, the greater our yield. The more we are yielded to Him and willing to learn and change, the higher our yield or fruitfulness. The seed or grain that was planted in good soil of an obedient and willing heart produced a hundred fold. The chaff has no nutritive value. Similarly, we need to avoid or reduce activities that are of no value and correspondingly increase those that add value to our lives and that of other. There are different kinds of sieve depending on the type and size of the grain as well as the chaff. Similarly, we need to use different types of biblical leadership, management and life tools and skills to separate the different grades of grain- the most useful, the useful, the least useful. The Lord will command or direct and lead us to choose the appropriate sieve to sift our patterns.

Prateep V Philip