How stubborn can we be?

Have you ever done something that you knew was not good for you, but did it anyway?

I did something like this just yesterday.  My daughter and I make delicious brownies, but we try not to make them too often because when we do we want to eat them all at once.  We made brownies this week and yesterday I was alone at home, I looked at them and decided to eat all that was left.  I knew I was going to be sick later, and I was, but for some odd reason I did it anyway.  I mean… how stubborn can we be?

So, eating too many brownies once in a while may not be a big deal, but it is a good example of how we make decisions based on what we want in the now, and how easily we give in to our flesh. 

Louis Gigglio once said that we are always two seconds away from making disastrous decisions, and that may sound very negative, but it is true!

In Jeremiah 44:4 God says    “Again and again I sent my servants, the prophets, to plead with them, don’t do these horrible things that I hate so much.  But my people would not listen or turn back from their wicked ways.”  God suffers when we turn away from Him, why?  Because He loves us! Just like when someone we love so much is doing something that in the long run is going to hurt them, we plead with them because we don’t want anything bad to happen.  “The Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel, asks you: Why are you destroying yourselves? (Jeremiah 44:7)

“Then all the women present and all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense to idols…answered Jeremiah, we will not listen to your messages from the Lord! We will do whatever we want.” (Jeremiah 44:15-17)  If we are really honest, doesn’t that sound like something our actions sometimes say to God? In big or small things in our daily life, many times we choose to go against what God has taught us.  Yes, we can come up with many excuses, such as… “It was too hard, I didn’t realized it, everyone else was doing it”… at the end there is only one real reason … we wanted to do it.

We are very stubborn; it would be so simple if we could accept that we are not able to run our lives on our own.  We are surrounded by too many distractions that look too good and satisfy the now, but what about the later?  Our feelings are like a roller coaster, we can’t depend on them and we base our actions on what we want.  We really need God! We need His instruction and guidance every single second of our lives.  The only way to fully live is according to God’s will, and sooner than later we will realize that His will is the best thing for us.  Only God can fulfill us, renew us and give us true happiness. 

I like the way Louis Gigglio finished his teaching; he said that since we are always so close to making a wrong decision, relying on our power to say no is not enough; instead we need to concentrate on the power of God to guide us and to help us make the right decision. 

When we have a relationship with God, when we talk and listen to Him daily our lives change from the inside out, there is more of Him and less of us and our stubbornness little by little becomes joyful obedience.

“Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with scoffers.  But they delight in doing everything the Lord wants; day and night they think about his law. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season without fail.  Their leaves never wither, and in all they do, they prosper.”  (Psalm 1:1-3)