One day, a wealthy businessman saw the poster and was interested. He went to the barbers' shop and inquired about the gentleman. One of the barbers and the businessman took the beautiful photograph and went to the slum where they met the ghetto guy the first time but could not find him. No one in the apartment building could identify the handsome gentleman in the photograph. Then the barber went back to the shop, picked the old photo and came back to the folks. “This is the guy I am talking about”, he said. Immediately, the ghetto guy's neighbours recognized him. Then they led the Barber and the businessman to a corner where they found the ghetto guy. He had returned to his habitual corner and resumed his old way of life.
True and Lasting Change Must Begin from Within
Just like the Triple A Barbers, many of us have attempted to change ourselves and our circumstances from the outside in. As most of us have found out again and again, true change can never happen from the outside in. True and lasting change come only from inside out. It is impossible for you or me to change our lives by changing our job, car, house, wardrobe, spouse, pet, toys, sex, looks, location or any external body attachment for that matter.
Ask those who have spent huge sum of money to change their physical surroundings in attempt to change their lives and they would tell you that such attempts are like the chasing of the winds that never yield positive results. Any change that does not come from within a person is fake and temporary.
True and Lasting Change Must be Continuous
Haven't you wondered why well meaning people like you and I keep going back to the same old habits and never really making meaningful progress in our personal development? What happened to our new year resolution? Why did we fall back into debt so quickly? Why did we return to the same unhealthy eating habits? Why do we keep having the same difficulties in our relationships? What about those recurring negative emotions? Why wouldn't the moods swing just stop or the depression go away? Why do we so easily tip over our promises and go back on our word? The reason I found is: Change not only have to begin within, it must be continuous.
Whatever we pay attention to will grow and whatever we neglect to feed will eventually die including habits. Habits are simply routines or patterns of actions programmed into our minds that are easy to follow. Human beings like to take the easy path and any path of action we repeat often eventually becomes a habit. Habits are difficult to break just by wishing or even knowing and agreeing that they need to be broken. To successfully change a particular habit, we must replace it with a new one and this can only happen within. This means you must continue to refuse to take the easy path or feed the desire to do or have a particular thing.
Steps to Changing From Inside Out
1. First, become the person
Attempting to do something that we have not become leads to frustration but doing something that is already a part of our nature requires little effort. Good or bad habits are nothing but second natures to those who possess them. Therefore, changing who we are must come before changing what we do. Being precedes doing.
Haven't you wondered why well meaning people like you and I keep going back to the same old habits and never really making meaningful progress in our personal development? What happened to our new year resolution? Why did we fall back into debt so quickly? Why did we return to the same unhealthy eating habits? Why do we keep having the same difficulties in our relationships? What about those recurring negative emotions? Why wouldn't the moods swing just stop or the depression go away? Why do we so easily tip over our promises and go back on our word? The reason I found is: Change not only have to begin within, it must be continuous.
Whatever we pay attention to will grow and whatever we neglect to feed will eventually die including habits. Habits are simply routines or patterns of actions programmed into our minds that are easy to follow. Human beings like to take the easy path and any path of action we repeat often eventually becomes a habit. Habits are difficult to break just by wishing or even knowing and agreeing that they need to be broken. To successfully change a particular habit, we must replace it with a new one and this can only happen within. This means you must continue to refuse to take the easy path or feed the desire to do or have a particular thing.
Steps to Changing From Inside Out
1. First, become the person
Attempting to do something that we have not become leads to frustration but doing something that is already a part of our nature requires little effort. Good or bad habits are nothing but second natures to those who possess them. Therefore, changing who we are must come before changing what we do. Being precedes doing.
I am aware that the idea of changing one's nature is a complex subject to understand. Even a Jewish Teacher had a difficult time understanding the concept when Jesus Christ of Nazareth explained it to him. However, people who have experienced a change of nature know that it is possible for people to truly change. Since Jesus Christ's response on the subject, there has not been a better way to explain the concept of changing from within (John 3:1-8). Essentially, Jesus Christ told the Jewish Teacher that unless a person is re-born (or born from the inside out), that person cannot see the kingdom of God (see life as God sees it and enjoy its fullness).
Imagine an offspring living in its mother's womb. First, the offspring takes its nature from the its parents. The offspring of a bird will behave like a bird, the offspring of a fish will behave like a fish and the offspring of a human being will behave like a human being. Second, the offspring must be born by its parents to do what its parents can do. In the same way, a person must have the nature of God within him or her to do the right things.
This means that no human being can successfully change ungodly and unwanted behaviours that they picked up while growing up, unless they first change their human nature to godly nature. The human nature is weak and evil by default but godly nature is strong and good by default. Changing from human to godly nature happens when you give up your old nature or ability and take on a new nature or the ability of your Creator God by faith. In other words, you become re-born by God and behaves like God quite naturally. It is impossible to live a godly life without godly nature.
Then renew your mind continuously
Have you wondered why "godly people" do bad things, sometimes? The answer, in my opinion, is two-fold. Such people may not have taken on the nature of God although they appear godly or they may not have continued to renew their minds after they took on the nature of God.
Just because human offspring has human nature does not mean every human being will automatically behave like humans. Human beings must continue to develop their nature to release their full human potentials. In the same way, just because a person has taken on the nature of God does not mean that such person will automatically behave in a godly manner. A person must continue to renew his or her godly nature to be godly in character. God has provided us with materials for developing a godly character in his Manual for living -the bible.
The great Theologian Paul of Tarsus once said: "you are transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Romans 12:2). I believe by 'renewing' Paul meant continuous development. If you stop developing your mind with the word of God, you start to conform to specific patterns of behaviour or habits that may become difficult for you to break. This is true even with developing a godly character. We should avoid conforming to religious traditions otherwise we may become so rigid that we find it difficult to accept the new truths God wants to communicate to us from time to time. The word of God is like milk (1Peter 1:2), meat (Hebrews 5:14), guide (Psalm 119: 105) and reference (James 1:25) which are relevant at different stages of growth.
As you work on changing your behaviours or life circumstances, please bear in mind that true change must begin from within and ultimately happen by continuous renewal of the mind. If you attempt to change your behaviour or circumstances from outside in, it will not last. Once you start the process of change, you would have to keep at it to see it materialize. If you try and fail, rise up and try again. We never stop changing unless we conform or stop developing our minds.
Enjoy a beautiful week!
You can reach me at everydaylifeblogging[at]gmail[dot]com
Imagine an offspring living in its mother's womb. First, the offspring takes its nature from the its parents. The offspring of a bird will behave like a bird, the offspring of a fish will behave like a fish and the offspring of a human being will behave like a human being. Second, the offspring must be born by its parents to do what its parents can do. In the same way, a person must have the nature of God within him or her to do the right things.
This means that no human being can successfully change ungodly and unwanted behaviours that they picked up while growing up, unless they first change their human nature to godly nature. The human nature is weak and evil by default but godly nature is strong and good by default. Changing from human to godly nature happens when you give up your old nature or ability and take on a new nature or the ability of your Creator God by faith. In other words, you become re-born by God and behaves like God quite naturally. It is impossible to live a godly life without godly nature.
Then renew your mind continuously
Have you wondered why "godly people" do bad things, sometimes? The answer, in my opinion, is two-fold. Such people may not have taken on the nature of God although they appear godly or they may not have continued to renew their minds after they took on the nature of God.
Just because human offspring has human nature does not mean every human being will automatically behave like humans. Human beings must continue to develop their nature to release their full human potentials. In the same way, just because a person has taken on the nature of God does not mean that such person will automatically behave in a godly manner. A person must continue to renew his or her godly nature to be godly in character. God has provided us with materials for developing a godly character in his Manual for living -the bible.
The great Theologian Paul of Tarsus once said: "you are transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Romans 12:2). I believe by 'renewing' Paul meant continuous development. If you stop developing your mind with the word of God, you start to conform to specific patterns of behaviour or habits that may become difficult for you to break. This is true even with developing a godly character. We should avoid conforming to religious traditions otherwise we may become so rigid that we find it difficult to accept the new truths God wants to communicate to us from time to time. The word of God is like milk (1Peter 1:2), meat (Hebrews 5:14), guide (Psalm 119: 105) and reference (James 1:25) which are relevant at different stages of growth.
As you work on changing your behaviours or life circumstances, please bear in mind that true change must begin from within and ultimately happen by continuous renewal of the mind. If you attempt to change your behaviour or circumstances from outside in, it will not last. Once you start the process of change, you would have to keep at it to see it materialize. If you try and fail, rise up and try again. We never stop changing unless we conform or stop developing our minds.
Enjoy a beautiful week!
You can reach me at everydaylifeblogging[at]gmail[dot]com
