This can be true in both the positive and negative sense. For example, if you plant tomato seeds, you're eventually going to see a tomato plant with tomatoes growing on it. Plant an apple seed and you get an apple tree. This isn't rocket science we're talking about here.
But if you want chocolate chip cookies, things get a little more complex. There are different ingredients that need to be mixed together. Most recipes will call for flour, eggs, butter, sugar, vanilla extract, baking soda and salt. Are we missing anything? Oh yeah…chocolate chips.
But what if we were to exchange the chocolate chips for…ummm…sheep droppings? I apologize if your appetite has suddenly decreased but track with me for a moment. So we combine all these ingredients, mix them together and place the cookies on a sheet to be baked. 12-15 minutes later you take that first batch out of the oven. Are you disappointed after that first bite? Sure you are! But here's where the insanity comes into play…you continue to mix the same ingredients including the sheep droppings, thinking you'll eventually get chocolate chip cookies like mom used to make! After 3 more batches, you finally slam your fist on the kitchen counter in frustration and cry out, "I want chocolate chip cookies!!"
Imagine that someone you know has been watching you the whole time. What are they most likely thinking? At this point, they're probably flipping through the local phone book in an attempt to find a local counselor who can be of service. Ladies & gentlemen we have some insanity to address here. You see, no matter how many times you substitute chocolate chips with sheep droppings, you're not going to get chocolate chip cookies.
Unfortunately, many are doing the same thing spiritually speaking. We mix together toxic ingredients including the incessant filth of primetime television, music laced with sexually seductive lyrics, graphically violent video games, movies that increase our anxiety, internet images we remember for years. These ingredients bake in the oven of our mind and somehow we still expect maturity in Christ to be the end result.
"If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got."
Many people who surrendered their lives to Christ years ago are becoming more and more disillusioned due to the lack of growth and maturity in their lives. I've heard some people say, "Yeah, I gave my life to Christ years ago but nothing seems to be changing…this whole Christian thing isn't real after all." I've heard others say, "God seems distant and I haven't been into reading the bible lately."
I lived my own life like this for years. I said a prayer asking Christ to come into my life when I was 7 years old but I didn't really experience real change in my life until I was almost 20 years old. At that time, I dropped to my knees in surrender to the Lord and repented of the things I had been doing for years. Some of those things included taking in toxic media of all kinds without any thought of what the Lord might think.
One passage from the Bible that many of us are familiar with is Romans 12:2…
"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."
Notice I highlighted "renewing of your mind." In order for any spiritual transformation (change) to take place in our lives, we have to put new ingredients into our minds. Some of those ingredients for growth & maturity may include the following:
Just remember, if you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got.
But if you want chocolate chip cookies, things get a little more complex. There are different ingredients that need to be mixed together. Most recipes will call for flour, eggs, butter, sugar, vanilla extract, baking soda and salt. Are we missing anything? Oh yeah…chocolate chips.
But what if we were to exchange the chocolate chips for…ummm…sheep droppings? I apologize if your appetite has suddenly decreased but track with me for a moment. So we combine all these ingredients, mix them together and place the cookies on a sheet to be baked. 12-15 minutes later you take that first batch out of the oven. Are you disappointed after that first bite? Sure you are! But here's where the insanity comes into play…you continue to mix the same ingredients including the sheep droppings, thinking you'll eventually get chocolate chip cookies like mom used to make! After 3 more batches, you finally slam your fist on the kitchen counter in frustration and cry out, "I want chocolate chip cookies!!"
Imagine that someone you know has been watching you the whole time. What are they most likely thinking? At this point, they're probably flipping through the local phone book in an attempt to find a local counselor who can be of service. Ladies & gentlemen we have some insanity to address here. You see, no matter how many times you substitute chocolate chips with sheep droppings, you're not going to get chocolate chip cookies.
Unfortunately, many are doing the same thing spiritually speaking. We mix together toxic ingredients including the incessant filth of primetime television, music laced with sexually seductive lyrics, graphically violent video games, movies that increase our anxiety, internet images we remember for years. These ingredients bake in the oven of our mind and somehow we still expect maturity in Christ to be the end result.
"If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got."
Many people who surrendered their lives to Christ years ago are becoming more and more disillusioned due to the lack of growth and maturity in their lives. I've heard some people say, "Yeah, I gave my life to Christ years ago but nothing seems to be changing…this whole Christian thing isn't real after all." I've heard others say, "God seems distant and I haven't been into reading the bible lately."
I lived my own life like this for years. I said a prayer asking Christ to come into my life when I was 7 years old but I didn't really experience real change in my life until I was almost 20 years old. At that time, I dropped to my knees in surrender to the Lord and repented of the things I had been doing for years. Some of those things included taking in toxic media of all kinds without any thought of what the Lord might think.
One passage from the Bible that many of us are familiar with is Romans 12:2…
"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."
Notice I highlighted "renewing of your mind." In order for any spiritual transformation (change) to take place in our lives, we have to put new ingredients into our minds. Some of those ingredients for growth & maturity may include the following:
- Daily meditation (chewing on) of God's Word - the Bible
- Listening to a teaching from your pastor or another Bible teacher
- Time in prayer - with others and also on your own in solitude
- Journaling - writing down thoughts or things you sense the Lord saying to you
- Scripture memorization - locking it into our minds
- Getting together regularly with a local church family
- Listening to music that sets your mind on the Lord
Just remember, if you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got.
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Media Saturation Threshold?
Garbage in Equals Garbage Out
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A Recipe for Spiritual Rut by CJ Hitz
It's been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same things over again and expecting different results. Along that same line of thinking, I once heard someone say, "If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got."
It's been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same things over again and expecting different results. Along that same line of thinking, I once heard someone say, "If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got."
