The Cure

“Part of the cure is the desire to be cured.” – Anonymous

A part of moving on and moving ahead is the desire to want to do so. While talking to many different people facing many tough situations I have made some observations of my own. One of them being that even though somebody may have come to talk to me with the hope of receiving direction on how to change the course they were on, they may not have the desire yet to do so.

When you first read the above quote you may find it a bit absurd. If somebody needs a cure and is offered one, you would think it insane that they wouldn’t accept it. Yet that is exactly what happens time and again. People begin to own their problems. They take ownership of them and when faced with losing it they will often hold on even stronger…even though it may be destroying their life. When you verbalize the words and say it is “my addiction…my depression…my difficulties…my struggle…you are verbalizing the fact that these issues belong to you…they are yours. And the power of what you verbalize is incredibly strong. So by saying they are your problem that is exactly what they become. And losing something that you own is never easy…even if it is something you despise.

So how do you break free? It begins by disowning the things that you have taken ownership of. And then making the decision to give it up. What happens is people begin to find a certain amount of comfort in their handicaps. If they didn’t succeed at something they can always fall back on their addiction, their depression, they difficulties, their struggles as the reason they didn’t do well. If they disown these things and walk away from them they will no longer have an excuse waiting in the wings for their failure. They would actually have to take responsibility for what they have or have not accomplished. And that can be tough.

So once you have disowned those things you have taken ownership of you begin to step out and take on new projects and experience new accomplishments as you move ahead without the handicap you once owned. You will find that without that weight attached, you are able to have more successes and that you are finding yourself looking for that always handy excuse less often.

While this may be an extreme oversimplification of a fairly complex situation…it really can be this simple when your strength to do it is coming from the Savior living within you. So today I challenge you to take inventory. Ask yourself what item…what area…have you been threatening a change but have found yourself repeatedly returning to your old ways. Have you taken ownership of the habit? If so…right now I challenge you to disown it. Cast it down. And make a vow to move ahead without it.

Philippians 3:12-14 – “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Have a blessed day,

RodZ

© 2008 – Rodney Zimmerman – All rights reserved