Three Weeks to Conquer

Whenever I come across things that seem a bit too obvious, pieces of information coming from completely different sources that strongly compliment each other, I am now more likely to suspect that it might be more than just coincidence or chance. I try to be open to the possibility that there may be an intelligent coordination going on to alert me about something for my instruction or benefit that I need to be willing to accept and integrate somehow into my life. While I try not to view such things with a heightened sense of superstition or put more weight on it than other more reliable sources of revelation from God, I do believe that God is ready to reveal important things on a regular basis to those who are learning to listen with an open and non-resistant spirit.

This morning seems to possibly be one of those occasions.

Each morning I have a habit of reading two devotional books designed for daily readings before I get into my exploration of the Word. The two books have nothing to do with each other and come from very different authors and perspectives. One is targeted for youth and has a wide variety of readings that appeal to the younger generation. The other book is more oriented toward thinking adults and is carefully going through each verse of the book of Revelation from a devotional perspective.

The first book I read this morning talked about the scientific discovery of how the brain forms habits. It explained that a surgeon noticed repeatedly that patients who had had limbs amputated often took exactly 21 days to quit feeling phantom pains in their missing limbs. After some research and testing it came to light that the brain takes just that long to form a habit effectively.

Well, that was interesting enough. So I turned to the second devotional book and began to read the passage for today from it. What peaked my interest was that he too chose to write about habits and relayed a story from his own experience about the difficulty people have breaking a bad habit permanently. He observed that people who smoked, when confronted with graphic pictures of diseased smoker's lungs, were easily frightened into quiting the habit almost immediately. But then he also observed that as he visited them over time that nearly every one of them started up the habit again about two weeks later.

As I pondered these two pieces of information that seemed to be meant for each other I wondered intently why they were so well coordinated for me this morning. Yes, they were very valuable insights that definitely complimented each other, but I wondered why I was receiving them just now. Was there something about to occur in my experience that would require this information as an important key to use for myself? Obviously I don't know that yet. But my curiosity was aroused and I asked God why this was given to me just now.

I couldn't imagine how it might fit into my study of Romans. I couldn't remember anything I have looked at in the current passage under consideration that this might apply to but I decided to go ahead and open the Word and see what else God might have to say to me.

Well, the epiphany continues to grow. As soon as I opened my Bible to Romans 15 my eyes fell on the following verses that definitely can be enhanced by this information given to me just minutes earlier.

For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus. (Romans 15:4-5)

One of the points brought out about attempting to break a bad habit through the motivation of fear is that fear, while a very powerful incentive at first tends to not have very much staying power when it comes to effectively changing the life long-term. This goes along closely with what I have been learning for years about how the brain functions and the two kinds of bonds that are used to hold people together. Fear bonds can be very strong but at the same time they are quite unstable and can be displaced rather easily by an even greater fear, or can simply loose their power from apathy over time. Evidently according to this report there might even be an inherent time limit associated with the use of a fear employed to change a life habit.

What I am seeing in this passage in Romans is a clear message of our need for perseverance. One of the greatest hindrances to changing the habits in our lives – habits in the way we think about God, about others, about ourselves which lie at the root of most of our behaviors and relationships – is our seeming inability to keep on pursuing a new way of thinking, to hang on to the original incentive that caused us to want to change. The word often used for this need to continue on is this word perseverance.

But what I likely would not have noticed in this passage had it not been for being alerted to the problems of trying to change habits that I read in both devotionals this morning, was the importance of having the right motivation for the perseverance that is needed. And this too, goes back to the most important element that needs to be addressed in our relationship with God – our opinion about how He motivates us.

If I believe, as I did for most of my life, that God primarily uses fear to motivate me to change my old habits; if I believe that God is in the business of frightening His children into obedience, then I will find that I might have great initial incentive at times to change my ways and try to abandon my old habits of acting and thinking – for a time. But if I believe that God's methods revolve around using fear to motivate my heart to follow Him and to unify with the body of Christ as addressed here in Romans, then I will be repeatedly frustrated in my inability to have the perseverance needed to effect long-lasting change in my life.

I might then come to believe that what I need is even more fear and I may look for even greater sources of fear and intimidation to get myself and others to change our ways, but if I continue to depend on the element of fear as my primary fuel for getting me to comply with God's requirements then I will find myself in a life of frustration, discouragement and repeated falling back into old habits of thinking and living. And I can certainly vouch for the truth of that last statement from long and personal experience.

What I see here in this passage sheds a lot of light on this aspect of perseverance. Verse four alerts me that I need this most important element in my life along with encouragement which I am told will come from the Scriptures. The result of these two important ingredients in my mind will produce hope in my life. That is wonderful, but if I don't continue on reading I might be tempted to jump to the conclusion that I must immerse myself deeper and deeper into the Word of God to pump myself up with lots of religious information in order to keep myself motivated to obey all the previous warnings and instructions of this passage.

But what I find in the very next verse is a wonderful insight into the way God wants to motivate me. And since God is the one who designed my brain to begin with it only makes sense that He would employ the right methods that are far more effective for lasting change in me than the false, counterfeit methods usually promoted for change. It says here that perseverance and encouragement come from God, not just studying the Bible. And this links closely with what Jesus said to the religious people when He was here.

You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. (John 5:39-40 NIV)

The important thing to point out that brings this full circle is the unavoidable fact that God is love. The Scriptures make it absolutely plain that the very essence of God is love and that Jesus came to this earth to reveal that love to everyone. So given that God is love Himself and that perseverance and encouragement come from God as noted here in Romans 15, then it would only follow that the motivation inherent in the perseverance needed to overcome old habits and establish new ones in my life will be based on love and not on fear.

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. (1 John 4:18)

This now makes much more sense as to why it is so important to have love as the motivation for change rather than fear. While fear may appear to get more immediate or obvious results and is the preferred method used in nearly all religions (and pretty much everything else in the world today), fear is not how God runs His kingdom. Fear does not have the lasting endurance needed for real transformation of the heart (only 2 weeks worth of fear-based change at best?) but actually tends to isolate the heart and make it more brittle and withdrawn from others. Only perfect love has the power and effectiveness to accomplish real change in overcoming habits (more than 3 weeks of motivation) and rewiring the brain in the ways of God.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.... (1 Corinthians 13:7-8)

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