By Lynn Fraser
Did you know the challenges and solutions to stewarding our money and our bodies are the same?
I was just reading Rick Warren’s book, The Daniel Plan: 40 days to a Healthier Life and he reminded me of this. Perhaps it is because both of these commodities don’t belong to us as all. They truly do belong to God. He created, planned, and purposed for all of us, then gave us instruction as to what to do. And, He has the nerve to give us free will.
Wow! What was He thinking? (I mean no disrespect; He also gave me a sense of humour).
Warren points out that habits are the key to our success. He says “Making big and lasting changes in our lives are never easy”. The great enthusiasm with which we start fades quickly and so does our resolve. New positive habits are needed to replace our self-defeating behaviours. The Bible says to “put off your old self and put on a new self (Ephesians 4:22, 24).
Here are five necessary elements for lasting change:
1) Lasting change requires building your life on the truth. Read John 8:31-32. I’m going to let you look it up. It is an indicator of the readiness to change. We need to face the truth about ourselves and our areas of weakness or rebellion.
2) Lasting change requires wise choices. Everyone wants to be free of shackles that poor money habits place on us, but few people choose to be free. A dream or desire is not enough, it takes a decision. In many cases, we want to wait for a better day to do it. There is no better day, choose life today.
3) Lasting change requires new ways of thinking. Romans 12:2 says, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect”. Replace old thoughts with new, old habits with new.
4) Lasting change requires God’s Spirit in your life. It is God’s power not willpower we need. Galatians 5:6.
5) Lasting change requires honest community. If you are like me, you have failed many times when trying to change some deep rooted habits. If you could change it on your own, you already would have done so. Find someone that will speak truth even when you don’t want to hear it, that has wisdom in to share and will encourage you on your journey.
Today is a good day.