The placebo effect …

“I think I’m feeling much better. I think I’m doing well. I think things are fine.”

Those are some of the comments you may hear from someone assigned to take placebos when they are really very sick. And yet, they think everything is okay or improving.

Those are some of the same comments you may hear from someone who’s life is a wreck, but when they discover what is needed to turn their lives around, suddenly the mess they’re in is tolerable, at least for the moment.

That’s because we’re addicted to placebos.

A placebo is a synthetic pill that lacks any medicinal value. It’s sole purpose is to make the taker think they are being treated for their illness when they really are not.

We’re addicted to placebos, the appearance of taking action or making change when neither is really happening.

We want to offer the appearance that we’re doing something about the mess of our lives when we really aren’t. We don’t really want to make changes but we don’t want that fact to be evident, so we opt for the camouflage of a placebo.

Jane is obese because she grossly overeats and never exercises. She wants to eat — a lot — and she doesn’t want to exercise, but she doesn’t want to admit it. So she adds a salad to her meals, now she’s “working at eating better.”

She’s added a placebo.

John never reads his Bible outside of preaching time at a church service. John never prays outside of a church service, and often even during a service he’s thinking about other things when his head is bowed and eyes are closed. John believes in God, intellectually, but the rest are outward actions so others don’t see he hasn’t let go of much of his worldly life.

He’s added a placebo.

How have you added placebos to your life? How are you offering the outward appearance of changing, maturing, or growing when you’re really hanging on to inappropriate or sinful thoughts, attitudes, and/or behaviors?

How’s that working out for you?

Scotty