{"id":102,"date":"2007-06-19T15:22:00","date_gmt":"2007-06-19T15:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brianmashburn.net\/?p=102"},"modified":"2007-06-19T15:22:00","modified_gmt":"2007-06-19T15:22:00","slug":"on-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brianmashburn.net\/?p=102","title":{"rendered":"On Change"},"content":{"rendered":"
“I think we severely underestimate how committed we are to remaining the same.” – Yours Truly<\/font><\/span><\/div>\n
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And the capacity we have to manipulate ourselves into staying that way is gargantuan.<\/font><\/span><\/div>\n
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Seriously…how much of your conversation is a defense of who or how you are? Oh, you are talking about various things and issues and people…but just under the surface of that is where I want us to check. How much of what you say and do, out loud to others and in your mind to yourself, is really a defense against healthy evaluation and change?<\/font><\/span><\/div>\n
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And this is not about feeling guilty, or defending yourself from thoughts that make you feel guilty. The very idea of being able to have serious thoughts of change, without guilt, is one of the very changes that we are so committed to not making.<\/font><\/span><\/div>\n
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You are holy and you are being made holy, the Scripture says. You are faithful and are called to be more faithful, it proclaims. You are saved, and you are working out your salvation, the letters record. Your eternal life is secure as a follower of Christ, and your life is constantly transforming into his image as a follower of Christ. <\/font><\/span>I think of some of the Kings of old being crowned King as children. They are the King, and they are becoming the King. How silly it would be for him to feel guilty as a child when he makes a mistake that isn’t very “kingly”. How wasteful of time would it be for him to dwell on the guilt he feels because of the instructions, guidance, or help of someone who wants nothing but to lovingly help him grow up into “kingliness”.<\/font><\/span><\/div>\n
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It is our flesh, defending how we are, trying to keep us the same, that does such things.<\/font><\/span><\/div>\n
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How likely is it that you will get up tomorrow and do something significantly and core-level different, even if you set your mind to do so only for one day? And are you aware of how you feel when it is even suggested that it might be a good idea?<\/font><\/span><\/div>\n

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How noble are my plans! They are high and mighty, with my eyes set to the summit of Christ-likeness as my ideal and real goal! And, oh, how I manipulate myself out of taking my next courageous step towards it. Why? Because I would have to change. Really change.<\/font><\/span><\/div>\n
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And I think I really underestimate how committed I am to staying the same.<\/font><\/span><\/div>\n
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“Unless you change you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” — Jesus Christ<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/div>\n
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For some, the waiting game is just gonna have to do. They will endure this life as it comes and as they are…waiting and longing for Heaven. For others, they want it to be here on earth as it is in Heaven. They want the kingdom’s rule now. They will USE this life…to shape them and forge them into living the Kingdom now…here on earth as it is in Heaven.<\/font><\/span><\/div>\n
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Most days, I am the latter. But I will have to fight against the gravity of the earth, the gravity of the dark kingdom of status quo, and the gravity of most of the people around me in my life…and change…if I want to enter it.<\/font><\/span><\/div>\n
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You?<\/font><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“I think we severely underestimate how committed we are to remaining the same.” – Yours Truly     And the capacity we have to manipulate ourselves into staying that way is gargantuan.   Seriously…how much of your conversation is a defense of who or how you are? Oh, you are talking about various things and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pO6nf-1E","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brianmashburn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brianmashburn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brianmashburn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brianmashburn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brianmashburn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.brianmashburn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brianmashburn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brianmashburn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brianmashburn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}