Month: November 2010

It has occurred to me that my daily routine is increasingly becoming a rut. The quote below from the Asbury Theological Seminary Kingdom Tide reader reminded me of one of the perils of traveling in a rut.

Fixed habits don’t change easily; no one leaves his or her assumptions quickly. If you rely more on your own reason and hard work than on the Spirit’s power, which brings you under the obedience of Jesus Christ, you will wait a long time for illumination; for God intends to make us fully subject to Him so that, inflamed with His love, we will rise above the narrow limits of human reason.

Thomas à Kempis (Donald E. Demaray, ed.), The Imitation of Christ, 1:14:3

Why is it so hard to change? Even when the need is clear and compelling, change is most often avoided. In a recent lesson, Erwin McManus cited a study conducted on people who were told that in the absence of some change in their life style they were going to die prematurely. The study showed that only one person in seven made changes necessary to prolong their life. 15% ! I was startled by that statistic until I though about my encounters with the need to make changes in my own life style.

Why are we like that?

• Perhaps we don’t believe what we have been told.
• Maybe we understand the risk but think we are the exception.
• We have decided our current life style is worth the risk.
• We think the discomfort of change is to great.

Maybe you can think of other reasons why we don’t change. If the threat of death doesn’t work …  More importantly, I would like to understand what enables the one of seven to make changes.

For the most part, I think about change in the context of “before and after” i.e. TV’s “The Biggest Loser”

Perhaps a prequel to “The Biggest Loser” would be enlightening.