WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.640 Music. 00:00:06.634 --> 00:00:15.546 Welcome to the Rooted Life Change Podcast. I'm Pastor Luke, and I believe that you can experience lasting life change for your good, 00:00:16.004 --> 00:00:18.769 and for God's glory. 00:00:18.924 --> 00:00:23.495 We've been going over and we've been talking a lot about denial, and last week we talked 00:00:23.882 --> 00:00:29.212 about pride, and all kind of getting into our heads this idea of where we're at. 00:00:29.464 --> 00:00:36.384 How do we begin to take those first steps in growing into a place where we can begin 00:00:36.384 --> 00:00:39.096 to experience some change? 00:00:39.244 --> 00:00:45.324 And that first step is beginning to identify that place of denial, where we've maybe been 00:00:45.324 --> 00:00:50.862 denying, closing our eyes, plugging our ears, and pretending we don't have a problem. 00:00:50.984 --> 00:00:55.210 But we've come to a place where we need to admit that we have a problem. 00:00:55.784 --> 00:01:00.344 But how did we get there? How did we end up with this problem? 00:01:00.344 --> 00:01:08.606 We didn't get there on purpose. Nobody ever sets out and says, you know what, today I'm going to go out and make bad decisions. 00:01:09.384 --> 00:01:10.442 No one does that. 00:01:11.304 --> 00:01:19.453 All of us have our best intentions. We all want to end up in the best position possible at the end of the day. 00:01:19.704 --> 00:01:26.277 So how then do we end up in these places where we're stuck, where we have these problems, We have these hurts. 00:01:26.484 --> 00:01:30.931 We have these addictions. We have these cycles that we can't seem to break. 00:01:31.184 --> 00:01:32.939 How did we get here? 00:01:34.084 --> 00:01:42.787 Today we're going to talk about this idea of sanity. Are we living a life that is kind of sane? 00:01:43.044 --> 00:01:50.784 Or are we living in a condition of insanity? And I'm going to talk about what I mean by that. 00:01:50.784 --> 00:01:57.624 When I say insanity, I mean that are we living in a way of being and acting that we have 00:01:57.624 --> 00:02:03.232 gotten comfortable with, but it only leads to places where we don't want to go. 00:02:04.303 --> 00:02:09.664 Insanity, on the other hand, means a way of being and acting that comes from a place of 00:02:09.664 --> 00:02:13.332 wholeness that allows us to live life on life's terms. 00:02:13.624 --> 00:02:21.984 I think it merits a little bit of time to spend and talk about what do I mean by those 00:02:21.984 --> 00:02:24.486 two things. Let's talk about insanity. 00:02:24.603 --> 00:02:31.264 A way of being and acting that we've gotten comfortable with that leads only to places 00:02:31.264 --> 00:02:33.533 where we don't want to go. 00:02:34.136 --> 00:02:40.604 Well, let's break that down a little bit. We all have ways of being and ways of acting. 00:02:40.604 --> 00:02:42.384 We all have our routines. 00:02:42.733 --> 00:02:49.144 Those are creatures of habit. We love to get, I'm one of those people who goes to a restaurant and loves to get the 00:02:49.144 --> 00:02:53.491 same thing every time because I know I'm going to like it. 00:02:53.704 --> 00:03:00.704 We're creatures of habit. We love to have the same thing for breakfast, know what we're going to do each week and 00:03:01.008 --> 00:03:01.344 each day. 00:03:02.646 --> 00:03:08.016 We have our routines. When we get home from a long work week, we know exactly what we're going 00:03:08.016 --> 00:03:15.856 to do to unwind. And the same thing comes to how we respond to different stress and the way we 00:03:15.856 --> 00:03:22.096 respond to situations. Even the way we respond to certain individuals. We get into habits of 00:03:22.397 --> 00:03:29.776 responding to some people nicely and some people not so nicely or kindly. And so we get into these 00:03:29.776 --> 00:03:36.126 ways of comfortable routine habits. But what happens if those habits are unhealthy? Or 00:03:36.436 --> 00:03:42.496 if those habits are leading us to a place that we long term don't want to be? Nobody 00:03:42.496 --> 00:03:49.035 wants to end up with a medical problem. No one wants to develop a medical problem. But 00:03:49.216 --> 00:03:55.949 one of the biggest ways that you can develop a medical problem is by not taking care of of your diet, right? 00:03:56.676 --> 00:04:03.664 If you say, if you sit someone down and you say, do you want to have heart problems later in life? 00:04:04.676 --> 00:04:09.101 Well, no, I don't want heart problems later in life. No one wants that, right? 00:04:09.436 --> 00:04:17.869 Okay, well then why are you not exercising and eating very unhealthy food in large quantities? 00:04:19.516 --> 00:04:23.836 Because I like those things. But you said you, but those things lead to heart problems 00:04:23.836 --> 00:04:27.349 later in life. You said you don't want heart problems. 00:04:27.436 --> 00:04:33.956 See, there's this incongruity between the thing that you're doing now and where that thing 00:04:33.956 --> 00:04:36.378 is ultimately going to lead. now. 00:04:37.197 --> 00:04:43.771 Health is an easy one to kind of pick on it's one that we all deal with of trying to wrap our minds around, 00:04:44.516 --> 00:04:51.304 the long-term consequences of my current daily habits, right that's difficult to. 00:04:52.789 --> 00:05:00.091 To predict but the same thing comes when it comes into our relationships if you want a healthy relationship, 00:05:01.539 --> 00:05:02.719 Well, then you need to be 00:05:03.011 --> 00:05:10.491 Conducting yourself in healthy ways from the very beginning of your relationship if a relationship is founded on 00:05:10.611 --> 00:05:15.592 maybe some Deception or some lies even white lies, right? 00:05:16.024 --> 00:05:20.171 Is that going to lead to a healthy relationship down the road? 00:05:20.678 --> 00:05:28.531 And so what we find ourselves in is if we're in a place if you're listening to this podcast and you're struggling to make life change, 00:05:29.329 --> 00:05:35.291 chances are as you have some form of of insanity going on in your life. 00:05:35.291 --> 00:05:41.051 The really popular way of defining insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, 00:05:41.051 --> 00:05:44.921 but expecting different results, right? 00:05:44.993 --> 00:05:49.125 We come to and say, well, I wanna get better grades. 00:05:49.269 --> 00:05:51.241 Okay, did you study? 00:05:51.502 --> 00:05:54.221 No, I just thought I would just show up and take the test. 00:05:54.691 --> 00:05:59.334 And okay, well, you don't do very well. And then do you study again? 00:05:59.651 --> 00:06:04.451 No, I'm just gonna come up and take the test again, and maybe next time, I'll try harder 00:06:04.451 --> 00:06:06.482 while taking the test, right? 00:06:06.563 --> 00:06:09.291 But you're not studying, you're not learning from your mistakes, 00:06:09.291 --> 00:06:14.080 you're not doing anything different that's gonna lead to a different result. 00:06:14.171 --> 00:06:18.239 That's insanity. And it's the same place that we get ourselves into. 00:06:19.451 --> 00:06:24.486 If we don't want to go where our habits, where our routines, 00:06:24.540 --> 00:06:31.472 where the way that we're living and being is leading us, but we continue to stay in that place. 00:06:32.453 --> 00:06:40.843 Well, that's some sort of insanity right there If you are experiencing addiction addiction is an absolutely. 00:06:42.123 --> 00:06:51.423 Isolating experience not only because it Keeps us in a place where we feel like we can't be truthful and honest with people and we hold people at bay 00:06:51.423 --> 00:06:58.983 But oftentimes the addiction itself can push people away when we choose the addiction over people 00:06:58.983 --> 00:07:03.983 over connection, when the addiction begins to have, 00:07:04.463 --> 00:07:09.823 compounding effects, it takes more of our time, more of our money, we begin to lie. 00:07:09.823 --> 00:07:15.133 It makes us behave in ways that we would never behave before we begin to use people. 00:07:15.223 --> 00:07:22.119 That pushes people away and it results into a place where we're ultimately left alone, 00:07:22.223 --> 00:07:25.621 just ourselves and our addiction. 00:07:26.023 --> 00:07:32.426 That's the end game of addiction, is ultimately isolation and loneliness, 00:07:32.769 --> 00:07:35.640 where the only thing we have left is the addiction. 00:07:36.081 --> 00:07:40.718 That's a terrible future. And if that's where we're headed to, 00:07:41.339 --> 00:07:46.182 but we refuse to let go of the addiction or to address that we have a problem, 00:07:46.515 --> 00:07:52.033 then we're going to get there whether we want to acknowledge it or not. 00:07:53.294 --> 00:07:58.664 Well, why why do we kind of buy into these? Why do we say well, there's this, 00:07:59.324 --> 00:08:04.184 Addiction that's going on in my life and maybe there's this problem and why don't I change? 00:08:04.691 --> 00:08:13.288 Why did we end up with this way of being in the first place? And that's because we ultimately we believe these short-term lies. 00:08:14.125 --> 00:08:24.464 Right when we eat from We've talked about this idea this concept of going back to the garden in the Bible Genesis 00:08:24.703 --> 00:08:27.084 Adam and Eve the true trees, 00:08:27.904 --> 00:08:34.364 Representing two ways of being like sometimes we listen to that story and we hear the cartoon and all we think of is one tree 00:08:34.785 --> 00:08:39.997 There's the tree of knowledge of good and evil and Adam and Eve weren't supposed to eat fruit from it and ate fruit from it 00:08:40.064 --> 00:08:42.617 but we forget that there's actually two trees and 00:08:42.779 --> 00:08:48.664 And that one of the trees was permissible for them to eat from until they had eaten 00:08:48.664 --> 00:08:51.646 from the other one that they were not supposed to eat from. 00:08:51.844 --> 00:08:59.451 And these two trees, they're not just, the one tree is not just a thing that you're not supposed to do. 00:08:59.924 --> 00:09:08.283 The other is a thing that you ought to have been doing. See the two trees represent a choice. 00:09:08.684 --> 00:09:14.684 The Tree of Life, the tree that God encouraged Adam and Eve to eat from, that was theirs 00:09:14.684 --> 00:09:20.787 for the taking, was a symbol, was a understanding of saying, we're going to take life and how 00:09:21.104 --> 00:09:24.676 we ought to live and knowledge and wisdom from God. 00:09:25.964 --> 00:09:34.047 We're going to live life on God's terms. He's going to rule and reign in our hearts, and we're going to follow after Him. 00:09:34.584 --> 00:09:39.304 And so, why would we ever need to eat from the tree of knowledge in good and evil if 00:09:39.304 --> 00:09:43.112 it brings about sin, hurt, and separation, and pain? 00:09:43.959 --> 00:09:50.827 Well, it's because Adam and Eve bought a lie. If we look at that story in Genesis... 00:09:51.863 --> 00:09:57.473 Genesis chapter 3, it says this, says that the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild 00:09:57.473 --> 00:10:03.073 animals the Lord had made. And he said to the woman, did God really say you must not eat from 00:10:03.073 --> 00:10:09.553 any tree in the garden? Which is not what God said. The woman said, we may eat from the trees 00:10:09.553 --> 00:10:15.393 in the garden, but God did say you do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, 00:10:15.393 --> 00:10:19.233 the tree in the middle. You must not touch it or you will die.". 00:10:20.400 --> 00:10:23.515 "'You will certainly not die,' the serpent said to the woman, 00:10:23.920 --> 00:10:28.673 for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, 00:10:28.753 --> 00:10:36.273 knowing good and evil." Notice that there is this truth and a lie in the twisting. 00:10:36.586 --> 00:10:43.202 Sure, they will not die. They will not die immediately. 00:10:43.353 --> 00:10:47.344 They will eventually die. They will die spiritually. 00:10:47.513 --> 00:10:53.073 They will die internally. There is death that is coming, and the serpent lies. 00:10:53.073 --> 00:10:55.433 He's like, well, no, you won't die. 00:10:55.433 --> 00:11:00.773 You won't die right away. You will physically die now. You will spiritually die. 00:11:00.773 --> 00:11:08.813 You will suffer consequences. And the serpent holds up this false promise, saying, if you eat from this tree of the knowledge 00:11:08.813 --> 00:11:14.548 of good and evil, you will be like God, your eyes will be opened, and you will know good from evil. 00:11:15.458 --> 00:11:25.864 Well, that's also partly true. But the part of that lie, the lie that comes in, is that with that comes sin, comes the 00:11:26.173 --> 00:11:31.653 fact that we don't have the wisdom to make good decisions between what is good and what 00:11:31.878 --> 00:11:36.813 is evil, that all too often we choose evil, right? 00:11:36.813 --> 00:11:42.221 That's the lie, is that, yeah, we might suddenly begin to understand what good and evil is. 00:11:43.167 --> 00:11:48.897 We aren't powerful enough and wise enough and holy enough to make those choices, to 00:11:48.897 --> 00:11:50.882 be really discerning. 00:11:51.710 --> 00:12:01.057 See, the serpent is offering something, but it's something that comes with a bit of a 00:12:01.057 --> 00:12:06.374 consequence on the other side that Adam and Eve aren't noticing or aren't seeing right now. 00:12:06.577 --> 00:12:09.651 And that's the same way all of these decisions come. 00:12:10.537 --> 00:12:16.297 We often eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. We say, you know what, I'm going to follow my own wisdom. 00:12:16.297 --> 00:12:19.482 I'm going to do what feels good, what I want to do right now. 00:12:20.137 --> 00:12:25.396 And we decide to do that. When we decide to do that, we're saying no to the way that God has called us to live, 00:12:25.897 --> 00:12:30.284 and we're choosing to follow after and eat our own wisdom. 00:12:30.417 --> 00:12:34.777 And that's when our insanity starts to kick in. We start to believe lies. 00:12:34.777 --> 00:12:37.999 We might believe a lie like, this will make us feel good. 00:12:38.657 --> 00:12:44.274 That's very true. And addiction often makes people feel really good. 00:12:45.129 --> 00:12:50.360 The problem is that you don't always feel that good, or how are you going to feel afterwards, 00:12:50.617 --> 00:12:55.329 or the long-term consequences of how that's making you feel. 00:12:55.657 --> 00:12:58.093 This will finally be the thing that I need. 00:12:58.757 --> 00:13:02.297 We make a decision, we say, you know what, I don't care that I'm going to have to cut 00:13:02.297 --> 00:13:08.497 off all of my relationships to make this decision, this will be the thing that I finally need. 00:13:08.497 --> 00:13:16.619 Not always true, often comes with significant cost. Just one more time won't hurt. Yeah. 00:13:17.690 --> 00:13:23.830 But just one more time always leads to one more time. And if I could have control, we 00:13:24.137 --> 00:13:28.977 would be happy. That's another, that's a lie we love to tell ourselves. If I had control 00:13:28.977 --> 00:13:33.977 over everything, if only people would listen to me, do what I say, if things only went 00:13:33.977 --> 00:13:40.177 my way, I would be happy. I'll tell you, there's plenty of people who get things just the way 00:13:40.177 --> 00:13:47.457 they want them and they're still very, very unhappy. I know best. I'm making this decision 00:13:47.457 --> 00:13:51.977 even though no one else and everyone else is telling me that this is not a good idea. 00:13:52.160 --> 00:13:59.257 I'm not going to listen to them. I know best. No one understands. No one understands who 00:13:59.257 --> 00:14:05.837 I am. That's a lie that we often hear and tell ourselves. No one truly understands me, 00:14:06.438 --> 00:14:12.406 except for me. And it'll be easier to stay like this. That's the lie that we've talked 00:14:12.478 --> 00:14:18.257 about quite a bit on this podcast, that we believe this idea that it's just easier to 00:14:18.257 --> 00:14:24.637 stay this way. I shouldn't change. I should just be exactly the way I am. But staying 00:14:24.637 --> 00:14:30.137 the way you are is uncomfortable and hard and has its own consequences too. 00:14:30.137 --> 00:14:37.597 Every promise is ultimately a lie because behind it sits a cost that maybe isn't immediate, 00:14:37.597 --> 00:14:42.420 maybe isn't right away, but in the long term, it's going to be there. 00:14:43.464 --> 00:14:50.798 And so, we begin to buy that lie, begin to become comfortable living a certain way, being 00:14:50.798 --> 00:14:56.998 a certain way, and when we do that, we begin to get into this place of insanity where we're 00:14:56.998 --> 00:15:03.358 continuing to believe a lie, act and behave in a way that's leading us to a place that 00:15:03.358 --> 00:15:06.501 we would never, ever want to go to begin with. 00:15:06.978 --> 00:15:11.686 If we knew that that was where I was going to end up, if I made this one decision, we'd, 00:15:12.198 --> 00:15:14.027 We'd never have made that decision. 00:15:14.118 --> 00:15:21.012 But now we're down this road and there's that snowball effect and we're feeling that anticipation of, 00:15:21.278 --> 00:15:22.471 where is this leading me? 00:15:22.998 --> 00:15:28.493 This is not leading me where I wanna go. And that's, when we're in a place of, 00:15:28.718 --> 00:15:34.291 in a life cycle or we're in a place of hurt or we're a place of addiction, 00:15:34.378 --> 00:15:36.046 we don't wanna think long-term 00:15:36.278 --> 00:15:40.772 because what we see long-term at our gut, what we know is coming, 00:15:40.838 --> 00:15:42.402 we don't want to pay attention to. 00:15:42.518 --> 00:15:48.514 And we need to start paying attention to it. And that's really my challenge for you this week, 00:15:48.613 --> 00:15:52.961 is to sit and to think about the way in which you are living. 00:15:53.018 --> 00:15:58.696 Say, is the way that I'm being, acting, the way my relationships are trending, 00:15:58.795 --> 00:16:05.178 if I continue to live my life exactly how I've been living my life now, 00:16:05.178 --> 00:16:10.174 and it stays this way for five, 10 more, 15 more years, 00:16:10.615 --> 00:16:15.449 Where am I going to end up and is that where I want to go? 00:16:16.034 --> 00:16:18.726 I encourage you to wrestle with that question. 00:16:19.698 --> 00:16:26.252 As always, you can comment, like, send me emails and let me know how this is playing 00:16:26.598 --> 00:16:28.692 out in your life, and I will talk to you. 00:16:28.880 --> 00:16:40.382 Music.