How People Change--Part 2

Now that we have established that even those whose hearts are hardened toward God are hardened by something, what motivates us to change? Let’s look at some motivators that do not bring lasting change. Real change happens on the inside and is evident on the outside. Outward change is often a sign of inward change but not proof of inward change. I can have a change of actions without having a change of heart. We often ask what would Jesus do? This helps us conform our actions but you would be surprised what you could do with a hard heart. This was the main problem with the Pharisees and much of the problem with the religious world today. We honor Christ with our lips, but our heart is far from him. We have cleaned the outside of the cup without having touched the inside of the cup. Why do we do that? Why did the Pharisees do that? Why do we so often conform our actions without conforming our heart? Motivators Guilt is a motivator. And guilt will change the way you act but it will not change your heart. Because the change that you make in your actions almost never removes feelings of guilt. If they are removed, they come back and you find yourself in this vicious cycle of never being freed from that guilt. It changes your actions but it does not change you. Whole change must occur or it is not real change, it is a cheap imposter. Fear is a motivator. This is probably the greatest motivator for change that never brings real change. It too will change your actions but it will not change your heart. I do not teach the youth to not have pre-marital sex by scaring them into thinking about the consequences of an STD. This tactic may change their actions but it does not change their heart and the heart must be right or the actions don’t mean a thing. Jesus told the Pharisees I want you to follow the law but follow it with both heart and actions. This fear motivation will not lead you to real change. This is true of my own conversion. I didn’t come to Christ because I was scared of Hell. I was just as scared of Heaven. Hell hurt and Heaven was boring and I didn’t want to go to either. Heaven is not the goal of the Christian life, Christ is the goal of the Christian life. Being with love ones in heaven is not the goal, being with Christ in heaven is the goal. You cannot scare me into a relationship with Christ anymore than you can please me into a relationship with Christ. This talk of heaven leads me to the next motivator I want to talk about. Pleasure is a motivator. This is true for everyone in here. We are motivated by pleasure. We change our jobs so that we can make more money to have more pleasure. We change the way we relate to each other so that we can find pleasure in each other’s company. If you can go on a cruise to the Bahamas for the same price as a weekend at the lake, you will change your plans from the lake to the cruise because it brings you more pleasure. Do you see this? Do you see how pleasure motivates you? Pleasure changes the way you do almost everything but it can never satisfy the need for more pleasure which means it does not bring real lasting change. You will need to change something tomorrow to feel more pleasure so it is never a real change but many endless changes. These are just three of many motivators that will not bring real, lasting, Godly change. There are too many of these to list to put into one sermon but these are the most common I believe. I will post what I believe the Bible teaches about change on Monday.