We all have problems.
This society we live in has problems.
Sometimes problems just happen. You're driving down the street and you're hit by another car. You trip and fall in front of the executives you're trying to impress or the job interviewer you were hoping to dazzle. Your kid comes home with an "F" on his report card and doesn't really seem to care.
Those aren't the kind of problems I'm talking about. I'm talking about something else entirely.
I'm talking about the problems that are of our own doing. I'm talking about the kind of problems that if you were honest with yourself, the only person to blame is the one looking at you in the mirror in the morning.
For example:
-You're in credit card debt up to your ears, not because you don't have a job, but because you can't fathom not having what everyone else has.
-You're overweight, not because of a medical condition, but because you can't control your appetite.
-You are friendless, not because you don't want friends, but because you are incredibly selfish and rude.
-You have a terrible history with ex's because you have no boundaries with people and will always date the one most likely to use you and break your heart.
-You have addictions to drugs or alcohol, not because you don't know better, but because you love the high or because you believe they help you cope.
In other words, we have problems because of our actions and our actions alone. Human beings, even with their amazing ability to learn and grow and mature, have within them the unique desire to self-destruct. We all make our lives harder on purpose. We do things that are stupid, that have terrible consequences, that ruin our lives, that destroy our character . . . . and the sad thing is, we KNOW it will happen yet we do it anyway. Why?
Is there anyone who doesn't know that smoking kills you in an incredibly painful, messy, awful way? Yet we see people smoking all the time.
Is there anyone who doesn't know that spending too much will ruin your financial situation and set you up for financial slavery, paying off debt until you are 90? Yet we see people doing it every day.
Is there anyone who doesn't know that eating unhealthy meals, getting too little exercise, and not taking care of yourself leads to obesity, heart disease, unhealthy body image, cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, and eventually a pretty nasty death? Yet more than one-third of Americans are overweight and/or obese.
We all know these things. Knowledge isn't the problem. Then what is it?
The answer is simple: we have problems because we love what causes the problems more than we love the solution to those problems.
Huh?
Let me explain. We have an AIDS epidemic in America. We all know what the solution is- it isn't rocket science. The solution is that everyone commits to Biblical sexuality- wait until marriage to have sex and then have sex with only that person for the rest of your life. Stop shooting up intravenous drugs as well, and AIDS is gone in one generation, as are all other sexually transmitted diseases.
If it's that simple, why is there still an AIDS epidemic? Simple- because people love the cause of AIDS- promiscuous sex and shooting up drugs- more than they love the solution. Therefore, regardless of the knowledge, people continue to cause the AIDS crisis.
We have a financial debt epidemic in America. The average household has more than $15,000 in credit card debt alone. We know what the solution is- pay cash and if you can't afford it, don't buy it. That's pretty simple. However, the satisfaction of immediate gratification, coupled with having what everyone else has, is so powerful that people will continue to do it, regardless of the consequences. We love the cause of the problem more than the solution to the problem.
I'm not saying we love the problem. We don't. We actually hate the problems. We just love the CAUSE of the problem. And because we continue to love what causes us problems, we will always have them.
That is, until we decide to love the solution more than the cause.
I know people who were in debt up to their eyeballs that began loving financial discipline more than spending. Because they loved the solution more than the cause, they got out of debt. I know people who were overweight that began loving a healthy body weight more than they loved food. Because they loved the solution more than the cause, they got their weight under control.
The same is true of any problem- you have the problem because deep down, you love what causes that problem more than the solution to it. As long as you are in this state, you will always have problems no matter what steps you take, no matter what program you enter, no matter how many people you ask to "hold you accountable," etc. Until your heart changes, your problems won't change.
I have found that God does far more for us that forgive sins. My experience with God is that when He gets hold of your life, He does a miracle in you. He literally changes what you love.
He changes your love for what causes problems. He changes your love for self-destruction. He changes your love for the things that eventually destroy you.
He changes your heart so that you begin to love the solutions more than the causes, and your life changes. You begin to love Biblical sexuality and despise promiscuity. You begin to love kind words and healing touches and despise insults and gossip. You begin to love financial discipline and despise immature impulse spending. You begin to love wisdom and despise foolishness.
Because your heart is inclined to the solutions to problems, your life changes for the better. Radically.
You become the best version of you possible. You become a person who doesn't have to spend a lot of time digging yourself out of holes you've created by your own stupidity. You become a person who, instead of fighting every day in emergency stress mode wondering how you will make it through the day with all this crap coming at you, has time to invest in good things. You move out of crisis mode and into the mode where you are in the driver's seat, determining how you spend your day, how you spend your time, etc. You can do this because you aren't constantly mired by problems of your own doing.
You become the person you were meant to be.
Allow God to invade your heart- to change your love for the cause of your problems. Ask Him to change your heart so that you love the solutions to your problems more than the causes of your problems. Whatever you love- that is what you will do, no matter how dumb of self-destructive they may be.
Start today- it's never the wrong time to do the right thing.
This society we live in has problems.
Sometimes problems just happen. You're driving down the street and you're hit by another car. You trip and fall in front of the executives you're trying to impress or the job interviewer you were hoping to dazzle. Your kid comes home with an "F" on his report card and doesn't really seem to care.
Those aren't the kind of problems I'm talking about. I'm talking about something else entirely.
I'm talking about the problems that are of our own doing. I'm talking about the kind of problems that if you were honest with yourself, the only person to blame is the one looking at you in the mirror in the morning.
For example:
-You're in credit card debt up to your ears, not because you don't have a job, but because you can't fathom not having what everyone else has.
-You're overweight, not because of a medical condition, but because you can't control your appetite.
-You are friendless, not because you don't want friends, but because you are incredibly selfish and rude.
-You have a terrible history with ex's because you have no boundaries with people and will always date the one most likely to use you and break your heart.
-You have addictions to drugs or alcohol, not because you don't know better, but because you love the high or because you believe they help you cope.
In other words, we have problems because of our actions and our actions alone. Human beings, even with their amazing ability to learn and grow and mature, have within them the unique desire to self-destruct. We all make our lives harder on purpose. We do things that are stupid, that have terrible consequences, that ruin our lives, that destroy our character . . . . and the sad thing is, we KNOW it will happen yet we do it anyway. Why?
Is there anyone who doesn't know that smoking kills you in an incredibly painful, messy, awful way? Yet we see people smoking all the time.
Is there anyone who doesn't know that spending too much will ruin your financial situation and set you up for financial slavery, paying off debt until you are 90? Yet we see people doing it every day.
Is there anyone who doesn't know that eating unhealthy meals, getting too little exercise, and not taking care of yourself leads to obesity, heart disease, unhealthy body image, cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, and eventually a pretty nasty death? Yet more than one-third of Americans are overweight and/or obese.
We all know these things. Knowledge isn't the problem. Then what is it?
The answer is simple: we have problems because we love what causes the problems more than we love the solution to those problems.
Huh?
Let me explain. We have an AIDS epidemic in America. We all know what the solution is- it isn't rocket science. The solution is that everyone commits to Biblical sexuality- wait until marriage to have sex and then have sex with only that person for the rest of your life. Stop shooting up intravenous drugs as well, and AIDS is gone in one generation, as are all other sexually transmitted diseases.
If it's that simple, why is there still an AIDS epidemic? Simple- because people love the cause of AIDS- promiscuous sex and shooting up drugs- more than they love the solution. Therefore, regardless of the knowledge, people continue to cause the AIDS crisis.
We have a financial debt epidemic in America. The average household has more than $15,000 in credit card debt alone. We know what the solution is- pay cash and if you can't afford it, don't buy it. That's pretty simple. However, the satisfaction of immediate gratification, coupled with having what everyone else has, is so powerful that people will continue to do it, regardless of the consequences. We love the cause of the problem more than the solution to the problem.
I'm not saying we love the problem. We don't. We actually hate the problems. We just love the CAUSE of the problem. And because we continue to love what causes us problems, we will always have them.
That is, until we decide to love the solution more than the cause.
I know people who were in debt up to their eyeballs that began loving financial discipline more than spending. Because they loved the solution more than the cause, they got out of debt. I know people who were overweight that began loving a healthy body weight more than they loved food. Because they loved the solution more than the cause, they got their weight under control.
The same is true of any problem- you have the problem because deep down, you love what causes that problem more than the solution to it. As long as you are in this state, you will always have problems no matter what steps you take, no matter what program you enter, no matter how many people you ask to "hold you accountable," etc. Until your heart changes, your problems won't change.
I have found that God does far more for us that forgive sins. My experience with God is that when He gets hold of your life, He does a miracle in you. He literally changes what you love.
He changes your love for what causes problems. He changes your love for self-destruction. He changes your love for the things that eventually destroy you.
He changes your heart so that you begin to love the solutions more than the causes, and your life changes. You begin to love Biblical sexuality and despise promiscuity. You begin to love kind words and healing touches and despise insults and gossip. You begin to love financial discipline and despise immature impulse spending. You begin to love wisdom and despise foolishness.
Because your heart is inclined to the solutions to problems, your life changes for the better. Radically.
You become the best version of you possible. You become a person who doesn't have to spend a lot of time digging yourself out of holes you've created by your own stupidity. You become a person who, instead of fighting every day in emergency stress mode wondering how you will make it through the day with all this crap coming at you, has time to invest in good things. You move out of crisis mode and into the mode where you are in the driver's seat, determining how you spend your day, how you spend your time, etc. You can do this because you aren't constantly mired by problems of your own doing.
You become the person you were meant to be.
Allow God to invade your heart- to change your love for the cause of your problems. Ask Him to change your heart so that you love the solutions to your problems more than the causes of your problems. Whatever you love- that is what you will do, no matter how dumb of self-destructive they may be.
Start today- it's never the wrong time to do the right thing.
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