“I want to change, but I can’t!”
If this is you, then that is good news!
Let me explain. You just made it to step #3 in the growth process. Most people are stuck in steps #1 & #2.
Step #1: Getting past “I don’t need to change.” Staying in denial about our need to change and grow is, of course, the easiest place to be. No effort is required. Just drift through life. Most of us don’t get beyond this until some crisis descends upon us—we lose our job, the spouse threatens to walk out, whatever—and then we find the courage to stop blaming everyone else, and begin looking at ourselves.
Step #2: Getting past “I can do it on my own.” This is especially hard for those strong-willed, do-it-yourself, goal-setting achiever types because they will set goals and achieve them. They can accomplish some level of behavior modification, and it’s easy to confuse that with real transformation. I don’t want to knock this; my hat is off to you if you’re a go-get-’em type. But there is a real danger of confusing what we can do with what only God can do.
More next time, and this is a topic I cover in detail in my course, Spiritual Self Defense.
