This is the time of year when resolutions are made to affect change in our lives. We seem to become enamored with the idea and concept of changing to create a fresh, new start, for a fresh New Year. There is nothing wrong with new beginnings, but somehow, many of our good intentions tend to fall short of creating real change.
Humans are indeed creatures of habit and old habits do die hard. What that means is that change isn’t just about doing something different. It is about believing something different to the degree that it is the catalyst for long term, permanent transformation of behavior. Someone who believes that they are doing the best thing for themselves and their families will be more motivated to alter their behavior. However, doing something different in an attempt to create change for the sake of a change, when it isn’t supported by a new, Godly belief, can be a trap that snares us.
Frequently, men try to effect change by “doing” something different. Change will, of course, often necessitate “doing” different behavior, but it will fall short of creating long term, permanent change unless the belief system of that person has changed sufficiently to maintain that behavior on an ongoing basis. In other words, we sometimes fall into the trap of trying to simply perform change because it looks like the better thing. That is a “beginning”, but it is not what will sustain the change long enough to have it become a new behavior or otherwise viewed, a new habit.
New behaviors are not simply about doing, they are about believing. Sometimes we want to change our actions because we want to create a new beginning and thereby “feel” like we are going somewhere or growing. What we are usually missing, as far as understanding this feeling, however, is not so specifically about what we’re doing or not doing, as it is about what we believe, which supports or justifies what we’ve been doing.
This brings us then to the fact that we are actually seeking a place of understanding which will cause us to disagree with the beliefs that have been supporting our behavior or “doing”, which we now feel must change. Once we come to own and believe that our pathway to change will be empowered by a change in our belief about something, we can seek God’s guidance to become that transformed person. Next we must determine when we will come to agree with God to the degree that we will adopt this belief and begin to live as though we believe Him. This takes all of the doing and performing of behavioral change out of the equation, at least as far as it being the primary focus, because we now can believe that we can begin a new behavior by focusing on being who we believe that God wants us to be. This will certainly dictate and create behavioral changes in most cases, but behavior will not be the focus; attaining a new level of Godly existence will be. God’s word spells out the “How”, but we have to decide on the “When.” If we answer the question “When will I be transformed?” we will come to set a time to start our new belief.
This is the real “How”: Believe and act accordingly. Your life will be transformed by what you believe. Blessings!

• BROWSE / IN TIMELINE
• « CHANUKAH
• » DIVINE APPOINTMENTS

• BROWSE / IN Newsletter
• « CHANUKAH
• » DIVINE APPOINTMENTS