People start out the new year with great plans. They use it as an opportunity to change some aspects of their lives. I’m no different, I do the same things. It’s not that this week is different than last week, but it’s because we view it as a new year to gage what we’re doing. As a matter of fact, they tell us that 38% of all Americans will set some sort of goal or resolution this year.
These goals that we set many times are forgotten by the second month of the year. I read 2 different studies on this phenomenon. One said that close to 80% of these resolutions or goals are gone by the first Tuesday of February. The other was not even that optimistic and claimed 92% of these goals were gone but the first Tuesday in February.
Why is that? Why is that we cannot hold on to the changes we want to make in our lives?
It's really because starting things is easy. Keeping CHANGE is what is difficult. We start the year with great intentions only to find ourselves at the end of year with the same goals…and many times, we are worse off than the place we started.
Good or great intentions are not enough to make changes that will change your life. There is an old proverb that states, “the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.” What that means that there is a disconnect between what we want and what we are willing to do get the change that we seek.
The disconnect comes from not understanding that there is a process of Cause and Effect in our lives. Every choice you make throughout the year will carry a consequence or a result. Not just some choices, but every choice!
Isaac Newton said in his third law, that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. What every push will move away from you. and what you pull will move towards you. If you are driving down the road and you take a wrong turn, you will have make new roads to get back on track or you will have to backtrack to get to the point you made the wrong turn.
In the Old Testament, we read how the children of Israel faced consequences for their wrong choices. Their thought life led them to the place where they forgot the driving force behind what they were doing. The consequences of the decisions you make don’t just affect you, they will ripple through generations. Not because of generational curses, but because you set a standard of what is acceptable!
Causes have effects.
Actions have reactions.
Choices have consequences.
All of these things will write the story of your life.
Psalm 90:12 (ESV) “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”
To number our days is understand our lives are limited in days and that every choice will lead either to the plan that God has for our lives or away from that plan. There is no middle ground when it comes that. A day not used, is a day wasted!
Here is the thing that I think all of us need to understand as we begin this journey. The bible is full of men and women who failed. There were people all throughout its pages that started strong and were set back for various reasons. You will not be perfect but you can start moving in the right direction.
To Keep the Change is not about the particular goals you have set. It’s about understanding who we are in Christ and how that affects all that we do in this life. I will say this, the reason we lay aside these goals or resolutions in our lives is not because of intentions, its about the strategy that we take. Insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting a different result!
We have to understand who we are and who God has to be in order to get to where we are going. Because there is always going to be a little voice in your head, that says why even try. It doesn’t matter. But I want you know it does matter and just because you fail one day, doesn’t mean you can’t pick yourself back up and move in the direction that God has planned for your life!
Text: Romans 7:15-19, 24 (ESV)
15For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 24Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Paul, the guy that wrote most of the new testament, is showing us that even he struggled with doing the right things in his life. But the thing he was trying to show us is that modifications to your life have to be more than just behavior modifications. We don’t need to learn new behaviors, we need a spiritual modification.
Real lasting change is about God doing something through you!
1 Corinthians 15:9-10 (ESV) 9For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
Remember this is the same guy that wrote our beginning text in Romans 7, he said I’ve tried to change, but still the same old keeps coming back. He was a man that had persecuted the church, punished those who preached, he murdered followers of Jesus prior to grace…but after Grace, everything change. Its not effort that makes the difference, its what you have allowed to touch your life that makes the difference.
You see the power to change and keep change lies in GRACE!
This spiritual transformation that we want in our lives is about being empowered by the spirit of God, not through will-power. All of us need to add the spiritual component to the why and how. If you don't see the God component to whatever change you want to make, you will fall back into the same rut.
If you don't see the God component to whatever change you want to make, you will fall back into the same rut.
Your spiritual why is all about understanding the purpose that God has for your life, and your spiritual how is God’s power through you.
I believe that things really can be different for you life in this coming year! Why? It is possible not because of what you can do, but because of WHO is doing it through you!
But even knowing this doesn't change your success rate...so why don't we KEEP THE CHANGE?
#1 Reason we don’t succeed in Keeping the Change, is we don’t know how!
When we talk about making these moves in our lives, the starting point is understanding the how you to get to a place. Paul said he was trying make changes in his life, but he couldn’t do it on his own…why? He didn’t have the know how. There wasn’t enough knowledge to get him there.
If you think about it, a lot of our goals are the same every year.
We want to be healthier
Finances to be stronger
Relationships to be better
We want…
James Clear wrote a book called “Atomic Habits” and in this book, he makes a pretty jarring statement. He says “Winners and Losers generally have the same goals.”
“Winners and Losers generally have the same goals.”
That’s powerful to understand. We have all looked at someone and thought, how did they do this or that. They’re no better than I am. Everyone wants to be a winner, but not everyone knows how to get to that place in life. Your goals and the resolutions you set are not the determining factor of your success.
At the core of things, your life will always settle to the systems that you have put into place in your life. Whether it is reading your bible or losing 25 lbs, you will only be as successful as your systems allow you to be.
You will not rise to the level of the goals that you set, you will fall to the level of the systems that you have prepared for in your life.
If you want to grow in any area of your life, but especially a spiritual area of your life, you must have systems in your life. You put systems in because you understand the importance of them. We will delve into how to have effective systems in your life during this series.
#2 Reason we don’t succeed in Keeping the Change, is because we give up too soon.
When something doesn’t happen in the time frame that we thought it should, or we don’t get instantaneous results, we give up. Think about that diet plan you quit. It wasn’t because you got to your goal real quick…but more accurately, we didn’t see the immediate results. We’ll stand on the scale everyday cursing the results that have to happen little by little.
Things that come quickly, usually leave quickly!
Think about your spiritual life. You miss one service, you don’t really feel any change. You may feel guilty, but not enough to motivate a stronger commitment. Eat whatever you want for dinner, and don't see a big change, you will think it doesn’t matter.
The small things don’t seem to affect anything either good or bad immediately. So they tend to be things that we ignore and give up too quickly. But our lives are the sum total of all the decisions that we make.
We give our lives to the Lord, and then we slowly allow the things that pulled away from god to creep back in. The BIG FALLS of our lives don’t happen most of time instantaneously. They are the result of a bunch of small decisions that slowly draw us away from God.
But success in your life is the same way. It doesn’t just happen immediately. It is just a series of small steps taken in the right direction. Simple steps done consistently.
God honoring people do consistently what others do occasionally!
During this series, we will discover how those small 1% changes add up to a big difference over the course of a year. If you just committed to doing the little things, and don’t give up when you haven’t just seen immediate results, you’ll have greater than type results in the end.
Galatians 6:9 (ESV) And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
Doing good is the steps we take towards the plans of God for our lives. God desires that each of us live physically, emotionally, financially, and spiritually healthy lives. He gives us the plan for these things in His word. But too many times, we give up because we are tired of not seeing results.
But the bibles “in due season”…that means at the right time, we will reap the harvest if we don’t give up.
#3 Reason we don’t succeed in Keeping the Change, is because of how we see ourselves. (identity)
When we don’t see those immediate results we wanted, the enemy wants to tie your identity to that failure. “It just what I do”. You failed, so that means you are a failure. Thats what he wants you to think and react to. Thats the reason when we don’t get it right, it’s easier to walk away!
Again, the bible shows us that the men and women of the bible weren’t perfect for a reason. It’s to give us hope that we can get to the goals has for our lives.
Paul said, “I try to do what’s right, but I can’t”
Moses said, “I am not good enough to be used.”
Gideon said, “Why me, I am not good enough.”
But each of these men kept moving forward and saw victory as a result!
If you believe the talk about yourself that enemy fills your head with, it will create an unhealthy view of who you are. That view will create unwise habits in your life. Those habits are what define your success or failure.
Distorted images will overestimate your ability to get to your goals and plans that God has for you and underestimate God’s ability to help you get there.
If you are in debt, it may take you years to get to the place God wants your life. But it happens when start seeing yourself differently and through the eyes of God. A person who wants to be debt free lives differently than those that are mired in debt. If you are 40 lbs overweight, it will take time to get back to where you want to be. But you have say to yourself constantly, is what does a person who achieves the goals they have look like and do differently from who I have been.
Through God, all things become possible. I know some will say I am taking that out of context. But I am not talking about that specific scripture. I am talking about the culmination of the entire word shows me that grace makes me a different person. Paul was a different man before Grace, but afterwards, he understood that the grace in his life enabled and helped him to say no to the things he couldn’t.
You have to be honest about what has got you to where you are today and who you want to become going forward! That’s in every area of your life. I would recommend writing those things down as you read them in the word. What kind of person does God desire for us, and what does a person that has those things in their lives look like. Because the enemy is always going to present an alternative that looks appealing but enslaves you.
When you know who you are and who you are in Christ, you will know what to do.
Example…want to quit smoking…there is a difference between someone who is trying to stop smoking and someone who doesn’t smoke anymore. Identity shapes your actions!
Romans 6:6 (ESV) We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
Your identity as a Christian is that of someone who is:
Redeemed
Righteousness (not self-righteousness)
More than a conqueror
That healthy identity will create positive habits in your life. When you know who you are, you will know what to do. But no single action changes that identity…but consistent actions do.
Remember...God honoring people do consistently what others do occasionally.
PJ