There
is within us all a desire to do "better" than what we have been doing
in the past. It might be getting rid of
a bad habit, changing some action from harmful to beneficial, or just trying to
add something to our life that is less selfish.
We all come with a built in realization that we are capable of doing
better than we have done in the past.
So we
come to a new year and promise ourselves we are going to do better than we did
last year. Yet we fail to achieve our
goal so many times that we generally get to the place where we no longer try,
or we only give a half hearted effort.
It sounds good to set a goal, but we don't really think we can do it
(based on our past experience) so we are doomed from the start.
Our
failure comes from a misunderstanding of human nature, our nature. Success will come as we understand and get in
harmony with who we are. Now don't brace
yourself for some "psychobabble gobble gook". Let me share an illustration from Jesus. It is found in Matthew 12 and also Luke 11.
Thinking
of ourselves as a house, dwelling place, (or temple), we at times "clean
house". We get rid of the old
baggage, determine we are going to "start over" and "do
better". So out goes the old
practice or habit, and we clean ourselves up - but then what. We might even "decorate" with something
new, such as exercising instead of just sitting around. Jesus says: "When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he
walks through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, I will
return unto my house whence I came out. And
when he comes in, he finds it swept
and garnished. Then he goes and takes 7
spirits more evil than himself, they go in and start living there, and the end
of that person is worse than the first."
Humans were not created to direct their
own lives. (Jeremiah 10:23) We were created to be dwelling places for the
Holy Spirit of God. We were given a free
will so the choices we make are our own, but our happiness and fulfillment come
from freely choosing to do God's will. It
is our response to God that gives us anything.
For example, our love is a response to His. "We
love Him because He first loved us" (1John 4:19). When Adam and Eve sinned, they were making
the choice to reject God's control and invite the devil to control instead. "The one you yield yourself to obey,
that's whose servant you are". (Romans
6:6)
But God did not leave us to our idiotic,
sad choice. We would have lived a life
controlled by Satan, who is bent on destroying us, but for the mercy of God in
creating "enmity", (hatred) between us and the devil. That is what gives us a
"Conscience", a realization of right and wrong and a desire to do right. That is why we keep trying to get away from
bad habits, from self destructive behavior, from hatred and anger. We want something better than what the devil
offers.
As sinners we are Satan's lawful
subjects. But God gives us the power to
chose who will control us. If we think
we can control ourselves, then when we get rid of the bad habit, our house is
just empty. Doing right is hard, joyless, even impossible. Then Satan can come back and it is harder to make
the right choice next time. Only if we
invite God to come in and control us, only if we submit ourselves to His loving
control can we truly find victory and joy in doing what is right.
Jesus talked about having peace, joy,
love, all the things we want to have. He
had these things, and we can have them too, if we will live as He lived - in
total surrender to our Heavenly Father. Jesus
showed how humans were created to live.
Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus spoke and worked the words and works
of the Father. (John 14) The power and
victory we want can be ours only as we give ourselves to the filling of God's
Spirit. May it be said of us in fact: "It is God which worketh in you both to
will and to do of his good
pleasure." (Philippians 2:13)
