God, help us not to love what's killing us!

God, help us not to love what’s killing us!

 

“God, help us not to love what’s killing us!”  Dr. Chris Hill’s impassioned prayer concluded his message, “Scandalous,” based on the infamous Samson and Delilah story found in Judges 16.

From the perspective of centuries later, it certainly seems obvious to me that Samson should have seen what Delilah was up to.  I mean, after 3 different times of her manipulation and setting his enemies upon him, you’d think he would be on to her.  Yet, Samson, this strongest of all men, was drawn like a moth to a flame, seduced by the very thing that would  kill him.

But guess what?  Living in the modern world creates no immunity from that same behavior.  I believe all of us can relate to the apostle Paul’s lament, ….” what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do.”  Let’s listen in on some present-day “Samsons:”

       “Well, we’ve all got to go sometime,” heard at the bedside of a smoker with lung cancer who still felt compelled to light up a cigarette.

       “I think he’s really changed, and he promised he wouldn’t beat me again,” the bruised and battered victim of domestic violence proclaims.

 

      “That 3 bites of candy bar was so good, I ate the whole thing!  But I’m not having any more sugar after next Monday!”

 I could go on and on, but it seems we all need to pray, “God, help us not to love what’s killing us!”  Why do we rationalize, justify and continue to love what’s killing us? 

 In addition to usual explanations (we’re all human, we don’t like change, etc.) an understanding of how our brain works might help. 

 Our brain has many neural pathways which function like super-highways.  These freeways provide fast-moving flow of information, allowing us to do many routine tasks “on automatic.”  Pretty soon, we have what I call “ruts in the road,” those well-defined routes to routine. 

 

Imagine an old pick-up traveling down a country road after a heavy rain.  As long as that truck stays within the confines of the ruts created in mud, the driver keep on going in the same direction. 
 

Similarly, after a smoker lights up after a meal, pretty soon the mind, the hand, the lungs and the cigarette are all moving down the “rut in the road,” until the action becomes automatic, then addictive.

If that pick-up is going to get out of the “ruts,” it’s going to take some effort, because the temptation of “easy, known or desired,” is often hard to resist.  But if those ruts are leading to a washed-out bridge, there’s danger ahead.  And if that driver refuses to leave the ruts, he might be killed. 

 The good news is, however, that again our brain can help us out.  Research has also shown that our brain has “plasticity,” the ability to continue to learn and develop new neural pathways.

 Thus, if we start on a NEW path, a new way of behaving, thinking, learning, we can start jogging instead of eating, chewing gum instead of smoking, dealing with troublesome issues instead of “stuffing,”  and the positive changes can go on and on. 

 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”  2 Corinthians 5:17

 Let us learn from Samson, from Paul and from our own history and be determined to stop loving the things that are killing us!