Blog
The Inside Story
A Conversation
Recently, I had a conversation with one of my kids about heart vs. behaviors. He has external incentives in place to motivate right decision making but ultimately in life, he will have to make decisions without parents or teachers. His only direct daily authority will be God. When he leaves home to be on his own, what he believes will dictate how he lives. While teaching and training him is important, I can’t make him love God. All I can do is model it, encourage it, and pray like crazy that he falls in love with God too.
The Truth
Every person has the same ultimate decision and responsibility. We are to bear each other’s burdens and encourage one another, but each individual stands alone before God. We come to the cross by personal decision. We embrace Christ regardless of who else is doing it or what is happening to us. When we give account to God for how we lived, it won’t matter who did or didn’t tell us what to do. What will matter is what we chose. And we will choose what we love.
Tragic Story
In all the discussions of what happened to Whitney Houston, one thing keeps popping out at me. At this point in what we know, she had people around her who wouldn’t let her bathe because of her substance abuse. She also wasn’t supposed to be in the bathroom alone for more than a few minutes. She paid people a lot of money to put external controls around her. In the end, she chose unhealthy substances and she chose to take a bath. External controls could not save her from what was happening inside herself.
The Point
What is happening inside you? What drives your decision making?
Incentives, rules and consequences only go so far. The thing that ultimately drives us is what we love. That’s why God wants our hearts! Only when we are passionately in love with God and filled with His Spirit, will we choose the very best.
Comments
Thank you, Bobbie. 
Post a Reply
Comments are no longer accepted on this entry because it was posted more than one month ago.
