A simplistic process for change …

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History is replete with stories of how human beings are stubbornly resistant to the idea of change.

For example, here’s a little story from Today in the Word:

    On June 4, 1783 at the market square of the French village of Annonay, not far from Paris, a smoky bonfire on a raised platform was fed by wet straw and old wool rages. Tethered above, straining its lines, was a huge taffeta bag 33 feet in diameter. In the presence of “a respectable assembly and a great many other people,” and accompanied by great cheering, the balloon was cut from its moorings and set free to rise majestically into the noon sky. Six thousand feet into the air it went — the first public ascent of a balloon, the first step in the history of human flight. It came to earth several miles away in a field, where it was promptly attacked by pitchfork-waving peasants and torn to pieces as an instrument of evil!

Then there’s this little snippet:

    When the railroads were first introduced to the U.S., some folks feared they would be the downfall of the nation! Here’s an excerpt from a letter to then President Jackson dated January 31, 1829:

    “As you may know, Mr. President, ‘railroad’ carriages are pulled at the enormous speed of 15 miles per hour by ‘engines’ which, in addition to endangering life and limb of passengers, roar and snort their way through the countryside, setting fire to crops, scaring the livestock and frightening women and children. The Almighty certainly never intended that people should travel at such breakneck speed. Martin Van Buren Governor of New York.”

It’s not hard just for groups of people or nations to change, it can be hard for an individual to change! As the old saying goes, “Some people will change when they see the light. Others change only when they feel the heat.”

One reason many shy away from change is because they over-complicate it. So let’s take a moment to simplify it!

Let’s start with a basic truth about change, which is this: Change requires confrontation.

I’m not talking about confronting someone, or being confronted by someone — although that often IS also true — but for real, significant, and lasting change to occur, we must be confronted with truth.

Now, just being confronted with truth doesn’t guarantee a person will then change; in fact, people reject truth and stick to their broken ways as a matter of common practice. But one of the greatest motivations for a person to change is being confronted with truth — seeing they are wrong and another way is actually right. Some people, even knowing they are wrong, will be stiff-necked enough to insist on not changing; others simply won’t care enough to change. But a great many of us don’t like knowing we’re thinking wrong, feeling wrong, or doing something wrong, and because we’re wrong will want to make a correction — change. When we’re confronted with what we’re thinking or feeling isn’t true, and see truth is something else, many of us are motivated to change to embrace the truth we’re confronted with. Once we’re at that point, there’s a simple three-step process to execute for change:

1. Confess the problem. You can’t embrace the truth without first confessing you are wrong. When you can do that, then you’re capable of embracing, and then acting on, the truth.

2. Identify what needs to change and how. Is it sin? Faulty thinking? Negative emotions run amok? Ignorance (lack of knowledge)? Bad theology? Peer pressure? Long-held habits of bad behavior? A combination of these and/or any number of other things? Once you identify what needs to change, then you can identify how they need to change. The “how” could mean making a correction, or it could mean ridding your life of something and replacing it with something better/healthier.

3. Make the change. One of the greatest reasons for failure is the failure to execute. If you’re confronted with the truth, and even confess what’s wrong, see what needs to change and how it needs to change, but never act on that truth, you’ll fail to change. Once numbers one and two are in place, execute (act)!

Not all change is hard. In fact, it is often easier than we make it out to be. And in most cases, it’s for the better, it’s an improvement! So instead of over-complicating change, simplify it and make it happen!

Scotty