October 16: One Reason That Article with 10 Tips Won't Change Your Life

I've noticed a trend of list-making in articles lately, and maybe it's that kind of catchy title that enables such frequent sharing.


5 Things You Need to Know Before ___________.

10 Signs You May Have a ______________.

7 Things I Want My Children to Know About ____________.

The 5 Habits Every ____________.

3 Quick Fixes for ____________.


Now, I'll admit that I've been tempted to jump on that bandwagon. It's nice and neat and organized to sum a topic up that way. The article is to the point and gets the point across. We love to package our lives and our problems up in that fashion, don't we? We are the self-help generation. Information junkies. We study at the school of Google Search and have our Web-MD degrees.

My guess is that most of you, especially you health professionals, hypochondriacs, and germaphobes, have read every article on Ebola that you could get your fingers on recently. And you feel better now after having consumed all that information, right? Not unlike junk food, too much information {or the wrong kind} can make us sick, and we begin showing symptoms of worry, anxiety, and fear.

Oh, how we would love it to be so simple: knowledge = enlightenment = a changed man, or woman. Assembling life in a neat little equation. If only I read that article about the 10 Reasons to Keep Your House Clean and my character was instantly transformed into that of a domestic goddess who never struggled with a messy house again.

Are those articles helpful? Sure.

Informative and full of good ideas? Yes.

Even fun to read? Of course.

But life-changing? Transformational?


NO.


Because the problem doesn't lie in our mind. It's not about our lack of knowledge or desire to do better. We do know and we want to live as we know we should, as a mother, a wife, and yet, we don't. At least not consistently. Maybe there are some skills we need to learn, but even that won't fix the problem.


Because the problem is in our heart.


It's more then just knowing. It's more then knowing and doing. It's about a change of heart. A change of character. A change deeper then the surface bandaids provided by "10 Ways to a Better You." Because those bandaids eventually lose their adhesive and start to come off. And then it's hard to cover up the fact that the real you hasn't really changed after all.

There's only One that has the power to radically change hearts and lives. And it's only when you spend time on your knees with the One True God in the One True Word that your one heart will be truly changed. 

Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. {Romans 12:2 MSG}

YOU will be truly changed. Your mind transformed. Your heart redeemed and renewed from the inside out.