WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.480 Music. 00:00:06.472 --> 00:00:13.882 The Rooted Podcast. My name is Luke, and here we believe that lasting life change can happen 00:00:14.007 --> 00:00:16.537 for your good and for God's glory. 00:00:18.042 --> 00:00:22.109 We're going to continue a conversation we've been having the past couple episodes about, 00:00:22.874 --> 00:00:29.262 what does it mean to live in the light, and this idea of stepping out of denial, of really 00:00:29.262 --> 00:00:37.382 wrestling with the decision to pursue change, to pursue healing, to pursue breaking addiction, 00:00:37.382 --> 00:00:42.542 breaking cycles, finding healing, and making lasting life change. 00:00:42.542 --> 00:00:46.694 And the first thing we need to do is we need to admit that things are not right. 00:00:46.962 --> 00:00:50.250 We don't have it all together, we're stuck. 00:00:50.762 --> 00:00:55.057 So we need to make a choice. We need to make a choice to change. 00:00:56.542 --> 00:01:04.708 But change, change is hard. If you've ever had to make significant changes in your life, right, you know that it's difficult, 00:01:05.842 --> 00:01:06.502 right? 00:01:06.502 --> 00:01:11.042 Anyone who, you know what, anyone who's ever made a New Year's resolution, you know exactly 00:01:11.042 --> 00:01:17.077 what I'm talking about. You know how hard it is to make change, to try and make a habit stick. 00:01:17.342 --> 00:01:20.660 Because there's always so many obstacles. 00:01:21.137 --> 00:01:26.362 There's the time commitment, there's the resources, it's inconvenient, I'm not used to it all 00:01:26.362 --> 00:01:32.902 forget, right? You know, we see this play out in a grand social experiment every year 00:01:32.902 --> 00:01:37.962 when we make New Year's resolutions to go to the gym more often and gyms swell with 00:01:37.962 --> 00:01:43.082 new members and people. And then eventually it becomes really difficult, you know, it's 00:01:43.082 --> 00:01:49.881 just would be easier to not go to the gym today, right? And as simple as or as mundane 00:01:49.926 --> 00:01:55.722 as trying to build a workout habit might sound, it's a perfect example for the type of change 00:01:55.976 --> 00:02:04.429 that we're trying to make. We want to make change, but seeing change in our life is hard. 00:02:04.682 --> 00:02:05.338 It's difficult. 00:02:06.958 --> 00:02:10.718 And what I want to do today is I want to open up this conversation. 00:02:10.718 --> 00:02:14.718 I want to break down a lie that I think we sometimes get stuck with. 00:02:14.718 --> 00:02:24.718 A pattern of thinking, a way in which that kind of just keeps us from really having a true dialogue with ourself over what it is that we want. 00:02:25.647 --> 00:02:32.718 Because we're people who want ease, right? We want fast food. We want it convenient. 00:02:32.718 --> 00:02:40.438 Convenient, we want it simpler, easier, faster, right? And that's not necessarily wrong, right? 00:02:40.438 --> 00:02:46.358 Like we, you know, like we want to figure out the best way to do something so that it 00:02:46.358 --> 00:02:50.198 doesn't have to take as long or take as much energy. There's some good to trying to figure 00:02:50.198 --> 00:02:58.718 out how to be wise with our time, how to do things efficiently. And so we put a value 00:02:58.718 --> 00:03:04.492 on that, and we have this dialogue in our mind, and we say, you know what, not changing 00:03:04.573 --> 00:03:07.598 is the easier option. 00:03:07.598 --> 00:03:13.038 That's the belief that we hold in our mind, is we believe that there's two options in front of us. 00:03:13.038 --> 00:03:20.198 I could deal with this addiction, I could do the work to deal with generational sin 00:03:20.198 --> 00:03:26.118 and patterns and relationships and hurt, I could try and do the work to make the change 00:03:26.118 --> 00:03:33.558 and follow the Lord and step out into obedience, but those are so hard. It's actually way easier 00:03:33.558 --> 00:03:39.478 if I just don't do those things. That's what we believe. It's easier to not change. 00:03:41.032 --> 00:03:48.135 I want to propose to you that that is just an absolute lie. That's not true, that it isn't 00:03:48.252 --> 00:03:56.038 easier to not change. That actually not changing is actually pretty hard. And I want to tell you 00:03:56.038 --> 00:04:03.298 you what I show you what I mean by that. And so let's, let's pick an example here. Alright, 00:04:03.298 --> 00:04:06.818 let's stick with what I started with going to the gym, right? Let's just talk about a 00:04:06.818 --> 00:04:11.718 simple habit that you're trying to try and establish your, you know what, the next year, 00:04:11.718 --> 00:04:16.578 my New Year's resolution is to take better care of myself to invest in my physical well 00:04:16.578 --> 00:04:20.978 being and that is going to result in me going to the gym. In order to me to do that, I'm 00:04:20.978 --> 00:04:24.990 I'm going to go to the gym, let's say twice, twice a week. 00:04:25.678 --> 00:04:31.178 I'm gonna go to the gym twice a week, gonna do a mixture of cardio and weightlifting. 00:04:31.178 --> 00:04:35.685 Just, you know, something kind of, nothing, not gonna go crazy, 00:04:36.018 --> 00:04:37.978 just not gonna go to a CrossFit gym, right? 00:04:37.978 --> 00:04:44.058 Not gonna come, a gym rat, be there every single day, but I'm gonna go twice a week and just do some cardio 00:04:44.058 --> 00:04:48.162 and some weightlifting, you know, for like an hour or so, twice a week. 00:04:48.522 --> 00:04:49.773 And. 00:04:50.917 --> 00:04:55.224 Well, we start doing that and we get into it, we try and integrate it into our schedule 00:04:55.535 --> 00:04:57.515 and we're just like, you know what, this is really hard. 00:04:58.074 --> 00:05:02.584 Like, like I don't don't exactly know what my workout plan is and I feel awkward at the 00:05:02.584 --> 00:05:07.984 gym and it's a time commitment and it would just be so much easier to just keep doing 00:05:07.984 --> 00:05:13.064 what I was doing. So I'm not going to kind of just let this kind of slide over time. 00:05:13.719 --> 00:05:22.124 Well, we might think that's the easier thing until our bodies stop working, right? 00:05:22.124 --> 00:05:24.604 Maybe you want to play with your kids. 00:05:24.604 --> 00:05:29.324 Maybe you want to just play some kickball, right? Or play in a softball league. 00:05:29.324 --> 00:05:35.739 And you go to do that and you're like, whoo, my body is not able to do this like it was. 00:05:35.944 --> 00:05:43.044 Or perhaps you're losing some flexibility and your job or household chores become more difficult. 00:05:43.044 --> 00:05:47.204 Be you don't lose some of the weight that you were hoping to lose by going to the gym 00:05:47.204 --> 00:05:52.764 regularly and you gain weight. And that can create a whole load of health problems and 00:05:52.764 --> 00:05:57.384 inconveniences. You have to buy new clothes because the old ones don't fit, things like 00:05:57.384 --> 00:06:04.724 that. And that is actually really hard. If you add all those things up, not changing 00:06:04.724 --> 00:06:10.119 came with a lot of difficult things, things that you've got to deal with and handle. 00:06:10.444 --> 00:06:16.844 Now hear me that this example is not minimizing the difficulty of getting into the gym. 00:06:16.844 --> 00:06:22.684 I myself, it's a personal goal I've been working with for a while of how can I take better 00:06:22.684 --> 00:06:24.904 care of my body and my health. 00:06:24.904 --> 00:06:30.764 So I'm not minimizing this or saying any of this can try it or trying to make you feel 00:06:30.764 --> 00:06:35.804 less than if that's particularly where you struggle or if those have even been your experiences. 00:06:35.804 --> 00:06:39.412 I share those out of my own experience as well. 00:06:39.934 --> 00:06:46.128 But the point that I want to draw out here is that, yeah, going to the gym is hard, but but also. 00:06:46.992 --> 00:06:52.802 Dealing with all the consequences of not going to the gym and taking care of my health is also hard, 00:06:53.663 --> 00:07:01.782 right and all of a sudden right if we begin to lay that out all of a sudden this doesn't become a. 00:07:02.881 --> 00:07:07.962 Doesn't become a conversation between well, there's one easy choice and one hard choice, 00:07:08.850 --> 00:07:10.442 There's actually now two hard choices. 00:07:11.361 --> 00:07:15.282 Two things I choose to do and each of them is going to be hard in a different way, 00:07:15.916 --> 00:07:21.962 way. But one of them has an outcome that I don't want, and one of them has an outcome 00:07:21.962 --> 00:07:29.393 that I do want, right? And the question is, is what, which hard thing would I rather do? 00:07:29.682 --> 00:07:36.102 And which outcome would I rather get? So let's kind of break it down into these kind of quick 00:07:36.102 --> 00:07:44.962 statements here. Saying or staying where we are and how we are is hard, right? Staying 00:07:44.962 --> 00:07:52.042 Staying in addiction, staying alone and isolated in the place that we are, staying hurt, staying 00:07:52.042 --> 00:07:56.562 in a place where we feel stuck is hard. 00:07:56.562 --> 00:08:02.562 Probably why you're listening to this podcast. It's why I'm making this podcast because staying stuck is hard. 00:08:02.710 --> 00:08:03.538 It's uncomfortable. 00:08:03.979 --> 00:08:10.302 It's causing consequences. It's hard. Staying where we are and how we are is hard. 00:08:10.302 --> 00:08:17.342 Point is that seeking healing and change is also hard. It's not easy to make change. It's 00:08:17.342 --> 00:08:23.022 not easy to come into the light. It's not easy to surrender ourselves to Christ. It 00:08:23.022 --> 00:08:30.862 is not easy at all. It is a combination of both Christ working in us and us striving 00:08:30.862 --> 00:08:38.566 to work out our salvation, to do these things together, right? It's not easy. 00:08:39.062 --> 00:08:43.319 But that leads us to this third statement, to this question. 00:08:43.562 --> 00:08:49.783 Which of those two things will you choose to see the life that you want to have in the future? 00:08:50.485 --> 00:08:55.682 Right? The two hard things. Staying where I'm at, staying how I am is hard. 00:08:55.682 --> 00:09:04.182 It's going to come with consequences that are hard. Making change, seeking healing, surrendering myself, getting help is also hard. 00:09:05.897 --> 00:09:11.187 But if I do that, there's chances that I might get the life that I want. 00:09:12.118 --> 00:09:15.267 Which of those two choices is the one that you're going to make? 00:09:16.106 --> 00:09:19.436 And this helps us just kind of get off autopilot a little bit. 00:09:19.788 --> 00:09:26.147 I find that we get into a place where we have, again, that thought that not changing is the easier thing. 00:09:26.147 --> 00:09:30.527 And we just kind of default to not making a choice, to not choosing to change. 00:09:30.986 --> 00:09:34.416 But what we have done is we have chosen to not change, right? 00:09:35.298 --> 00:09:39.667 By saying, I'll just make off and kind of putting off the decision about whether or 00:09:39.667 --> 00:09:43.472 not I should go to this group or I should ask for help. 00:09:43.907 --> 00:09:47.685 Putting off that decision. You're not putting off a decision, you're making a decision. 00:09:48.067 --> 00:09:50.836 You're making the decision to stay where you are. 00:09:50.967 --> 00:09:54.500 And that's a hard choice coming with hard consequences. 00:09:55.004 --> 00:10:01.427 And that's okay. It's your decision to make. I'm not here to tell you when you need to make those choices. 00:10:01.427 --> 00:10:06.806 I'm just saying that I want to help you see more clearly the place that you're in, to 00:10:07.027 --> 00:10:12.676 begin to have those tools, to have that conversation with yourself about, am I in denial? 00:10:12.947 --> 00:10:17.747 Am I choosing to not make a choice, having made a choice, and still dealing with the 00:10:17.747 --> 00:10:19.959 difficult consequences? 00:10:20.427 --> 00:10:23.560 And so that is where it is for us. 00:10:24.766 --> 00:10:33.347 I don't know exactly what I just said, but what I mean simply here is that when we begin 00:10:33.347 --> 00:10:39.687 to see what's in front of us, those difficult things in front of us, is not just the easy 00:10:39.687 --> 00:10:41.527 thing and the hard thing. 00:10:41.527 --> 00:10:47.567 We see them both as hard, but we see that there's hope, there's change, that the life 00:10:47.567 --> 00:10:49.468 that we want is at the end of the other one. 00:10:50.587 --> 00:10:56.517 Hard choice becomes not as hard. It becomes a little bit easier to make that difficult 00:10:56.562 --> 00:11:02.507 choice for change. So thank you for listening and joining in this conversation. I ask that 00:11:02.507 --> 00:11:06.627 you would like and subscribe to this video. If you have any questions or comments, drop 00:11:06.627 --> 00:11:11.527 them in the comments below if you're watching this on YouTube or elsewhere. And if you're 00:11:11.527 --> 00:11:16.707 listening to the podcast, click on the email, send me an email, let me know what you're 00:11:16.707 --> 00:11:19.707 Let me know what's this bringing up for you. 00:11:19.842 --> 00:11:26.053 Let me know what questions you kind of have, what more I can kind of clarify in these thoughts that I'm sharing. 00:11:26.347 --> 00:11:31.113 Hope that you have a blessed time. Until I see you next, I'll talk to you later. 00:11:31.120 --> 00:11:42.014 Music.