The Lie We Believe Every January

You're listening to the Provoke and Inspire podcast. What's up everyone? This is Ben from Provoke and Inspire. And as we approach a new year, as we kind of navigate through the holiday season and as we sort of look ahead, it's very natural to be in a bit of a reflective mood. At least I am. And it kind of makes sense, right? For a lot of people, work slows down. You have more time than you normally have, the rhythms are disrupted, and I think it's very natural and I would even say helpful to take a moment and to reflect, to look at the year that was and to say, how did it go? You know, did I live in a way that aligned with my goals, with my values? Was it a successful year? What even is success in my mind? And then sort of beyond reflecting on the past, I think it's natural to forecast and to say, what would I like this year to be? And I say this often on this podcast, but I do think that rhythms and routines are an important feature that God has built into life, that we need moments to reflect. We need seasons for things to be disrupted in healthy ways. And look, I know on the last podcast, the four of us talked about New Year's resolutions that don't suck. And so I don't want to beat a dead horse here, but I've had some thoughts in this reflective period that I think will really be useful for you as you look back the year that was and as you look forward to the year that will be. I've really been thinking and praying about how can I set myself up to really live in such a way that would please God and be a good steward of the time and talents and abilities that I've had? And so that's what I'm going to talk about today on this short monologue. As you've probably guessed by now, Chad, David and Luke are not here. They're all dispersed around the country and globe for different reasons. And so you get me. But the benefit of that is it'll be short, sweet to the point, and hopefully something that you can really use in your daily life in a really practical way. So I'm going to do that. And then at the very end of the podcast, I'm going to give you three of my favorite practical tips for making the most of your life. And then a book that I read this year that I absolutely loved on this topic that I highly recommend. So stick around to the end for that. Now, for those of you that have listened to the podcast over the last month, you'll know that this has been a trying time for my family. My dad has just experienced extraordinary health his whole life and really our whole family has. We've been very blessed from we've been very blessed. And, you know, I've done my best not to take that for granted. And yet, at the same time, I just knew invariably, inevitably, that was not going to last. And it turns out it didn't, because about a month ago, my dad had some elevated numbers on his PSA, which is related to his prostate. His doctor was not concerned, in fact, didn't even recommend that he do any further checking. But my dad didn't listen. Got an MRI. The MRI did not look good. It indicated some serious lesions and potential for cancer. And it turns out it was cancer. Now, to cut a long story short, it was the kind of cancer that could be cured. And my dad is now on that road to eventually, and, Lord willing, be completely cured from this cancer. And that is a huge answer to prayer. And I know many of you have been praying for him, have been praying for us, and I really, really appreciate that. But this has been a very interesting learning experience for me as someone who has really experienced very little health struggles for myself or those closest to me, I have really learned a lot through this whole experience. And I talked about this a few weeks ago, one of the verses in the Bible that really came to mind throughout this whole process was James fourteen thirteen through seventeen. Let me just read that it says this. Now listen, you who say today or tomorrow I'll go into this or that city, spend a year there and carry on business and make money. Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, if it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that as it is. You boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. If anyone then knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do it, it is sin for them. This verse has definitely taken on new meaning for me, and I remember explaining on this podcast how my dad and I would be on the phone or in person, and we'd be talking about future plans. All the while, this sort of dread lingered over the both of us. Not knowing the prognosis of his health situation. We'd be awaiting some test results, not knowing how serious or how bad it was going to be. And so there was almost this weird absurdity to planning, right? It's like you're thinking about the future, but you're not even sure if the future is going to be there. You're not even sure what it's going to look like. And so we'd have these conversations about future tours or future plans. All the while in the back of your mind you're thinking, well, I hope this will actually happen. And it really did give weight to this idea that James is expressing, which is that we are so presumptuous in the way we think about the future. Right? Because the reality is we are not just dependent on God or unable to know the future when facing a health crisis. The fact is, this is the case all the time. As Pastor Matt Chandler often says, there is nobody whose whole life cannot be turned upside down by one phone call. Right. The fact is, none of us know the future. None of us have anything promised to us, nor do we have anything guaranteed. And that's exactly what this set of verses is attempting to address, right? In verse thirteen. It talks about this confidence, this self-directed planning. Right? I will go do this. I will go do that. I will make money. Right. All of these arrogant assumptions about the future. Right. And then fourteen is this reality check that what is my life? Life is just a mist, right? And when your dad is facing a potentially life threatening illness, this really becomes crystallized. It becomes something that is front and center. And then verse fifteen talks about the proper posture we should have, which is submission to God's will. Right? It's not fatalism, but it's humility. It's not saying, well, I can't control anything. Doesn't matter what I do. What will happen? Will happen. No, it's not that. We just sit on our hands. We move, we act, we plan. But we do so with a understanding that ultimately there is very little that we can control. The real sin beneath the surface is arrogant self-sufficiency, acting as though God is irrelevant in our plans. And so as I approach this new year, I think I have this new sense of the kind of posture I need to have. And that is not of arrogant self-reliance, but dependence and humility. I think that's crucial for all of us to learn, because though you may not be facing an imminent health crisis, well, to be honest, an imminent health crisis is probably coming. If it's not for you personally, it's certainly for somebody that you know and love. And the fact of the matter is, it's not just about our health, right? Our finances, the world, you know, a pandemic, a war, we just don't know. And so the fact is we need to approach each day with a proper understanding of ourselves and our ability to control this life and what happens in it. The second thing I've really been trying to confront in my life is the if, then lie. Look, I feel like so many people are perpetually stuck in this kind of if then thinking, right? If I get that job, then I will be happy. If I can get rid of this issue, if I can achieve this level of success, if I can have this kind of body, if I can deal with whatever, then I will be happy, right? And so we are always stuck, never living in the present, never grateful for what we have, never aware of what's available to us right now because we are stuck in the if, then lie. And so as you approach twenty twenty six, not only approach it with a proper dependence and humility, but really examine your own heart and what drives you. Are you stuck in an if then dilemma? Do you find yourself in a pattern of believing that if you could just achieve x, Y, or Z, then the fear, the anxiety, the sense of dissatisfaction will go away. What's so interesting to me is that when you listen to all of the whys habit hack gurus out there, they do seem to recognize the sense of being present in the moment. And, you know, don't just set goals that once you achieve the goalposts change and then you have to achieve new goals, you know, be the kind of person that is satisfied in the pursuit and yet built into all of it. There seems to be this almost assumption of eventual success, right? Even failure is just a learning step towards ultimate achievement. Right? And there seems to be the assumption in all of these wise thought leaders that you will eventually have that successful business, you will eventually have that great relationship. You will eventually have that perfect routine that it might not be easy. You might have to employ these various steps and tools to get there, but you will eventually get there. And that is really no different than all of the typical if then dilemmas, because still built into that idea is that to be ultimately successful, you need to achieve the things that your habits are driving you towards. But not everyone achieves their dreams. Not everyone makes the team. Not everyone builds the perfect business or reaches the material or fiscal or financial goal, right? That's not how this life works. It's a life of scarcity. And we're not all given the same talent. We're not all given the same opportunity. And if we pursue contentment by attempting to accomplish certain things, we will never achieve it. We will be stuck in the if then lie. There is a simple truth that can be so hard to grasp, but if there's anything that you should latch onto as you enter into twenty twenty six, it's this Deep soul level satisfaction is available to you right now. It's not dependent on you achieving a certain thing. It's not dependent on a certain amount of steps or tools. You can have deep soul level satisfaction right now and it is found in the presence of God. Psalm sixteen eleven says this you make known to me the path of life. You fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. The fact is, there is no substance on earth like the presence of God, and this is not a goal to accomplish. This is a reality to enter into. We don't check the box of experiencing God's presence. We build our lives around immersing ourselves in it because it is like water to drink from, and it is the only water that will truly satiate us at a deep soul level. Sadly, so few followers of Jesus make knowing him make being in his presence a priority. Just a cursory look at life and how we spend it makes this so obvious. In twenty twenty six, he will have five hundred and twenty five thousand six hundred minutes to spend. And the scary thing is, depending how many days into the year you're listening to this, you've already spent some of them and they are moving fast. This is an analogy I've used a lot in this podcast, so forgive me if you've heard it, but I really think it's fitting because life can kind of feel like this, right? If you imagine being in an airplane, right? And in an airplane, things are pretty chill. You're sitting there, right? You're probably closer to the person next to you than you want to be. But you're fine, right? You got your little snacks. You got your screen, you're watching a movie. Things are pretty chill. Now for a second, try to imagine what it would be like on the outside of the plane, right? The average plane probably goes five thousand six hundred miles an hour. Right. That is hectic. That is chaos. If you're somehow strapped onto the wing on the outside of the plane. That would be wild. Right. You would have a very visceral sense for how fast time goes. But on the inside of the plane doesn't really feel like that, right? Feels pretty chill. That's kind of what life is like. It is moving fast. Crazy fast. But for most of us, we're like sitting in that chair, eating our little snacks, watching that Netflix movie, blissfully unaware as the minutes roll by. All right, so five hundred and twenty five thousand six hundred minutes. Unfortunately, some of which you have already spent. The average human spends about one hundred and seventy five thousand two hundred, or thirty three percent of those minutes sleeping. That makes sense. It's kind of depressing, but it makes sense. One hundred and thirty five thousand hours, or about twenty six percent working slash commuting. We spend fifty four thousand of those minutes eating or doing chores or attending to our hygiene. You know, some of us could probably bump that number up just a tad. Uh, sixty five thousand seven hundred minutes, or twelve point five percent of our time on screens, non-work related. Here's the indicting one thirty two thousand and eight fifty on social or family time. So half as much time as we spend on screens, we spend with the people we love. Twenty one thousand nine hundred exercising and then a measly one thousand four hundred and twenty four minutes per year praying, which amounts to zero point two seven percent. Look, this is the typical person in the world today. And given the truth that only Jesus and His presence satisfies us in a deep, soul level way, is it any surprise that in light of these numbers, we are so bored, so anxious, so depressed, and so confused. Now you could say, well, that's the world. Well, statistically, followers of Jesus are not much better. We are not listening to Paul's advice. Who says do not conform to the patterns of the world? This is the world's pattern. Jesus says, build your life around me. Build your life around what matters most. And here's the thing when you do that, if you flip the script and you start to invest in drinking from the well, that will leave you perpetually satiated, then you are whole. And so you can pursue putting a dent in the universe and being fit and in shape, and loving your family and achieving your goals. You can pursue all those things from wholeness, not for it. You can have the proper humility and dependence that James reminds us to have. And so this is not about just sitting like a monk in a still position in the woods, although that sounds like it could be kind of relaxing at times. That's not what this is about. It's about putting first things first. It's about what you are building your life on. And I hate to tell you, but zero point two seven percent of your year devoted to prayer ain't gonna get it done. That's not going to get it done. And so as you approach this new year, approach it with the humility and dependence of knowing that there is very little you can control. And then put first things first, immerse yourself. Soak yourself in the presence of God. The only thing that makes the car run, the only thing that will bring you true, lasting satisfaction, that can emancipate you from the if then trap. If you do that, then you can go for it in twenty twenty six. And look, if you achieve the goals, great. If you don't check all the boxes, that's fine too, because those are not the things that bring satisfaction. Only God can do that. And when you realize that you've already won, you've already won because fullness of life and abundance and joy is available to you right now. All right. Three practical steps and a great book that I read this year on this subject, as promised. Step number one build in a regular rhythm of reflection. Look, January doesn't do that much for me. I know I said that. It's a natural time for reflection and forecasting, and I certainly do that to some degree. But for those who've listened to this, you know that I have my Friday reset, which is something I do every single week where I hold up my values. I reimagine and reconfigure my aim. And I really have this regular period of checking in. And for me, this kind of takes a little bit of the weight off of January because, yeah, okay, maybe I don't have my perfect end of year New Year's resolution. Whatever. But guess what's coming up Friday, right? And then another Friday and another Friday. And like a big ship with little course corrections. It helps me ensure that I'm heading where I want to go. So don't just do this once a year, right. Because many people, they give up within weeks. Right. Everyone knows that. Have those regular check ins. I think that this reduces the pressure of trying to do a thousand things at once that you'll inevitably fail to do, and then you'll feel discouraged and you'll give up, and then December will be here before you know it. My next practical tip is our tendency is to add. Right. We're always asking, what do I add to my routine? Perhaps the best thing you can do is simplify your goals, and then create space by eliminating things that should not be on the list in the first place. Then you will have so much more margin, so much more energy, and you can tackle the few things that you have intentionally chosen as priorities, with all the vigor that will allow you to actually achieve them. And then lastly, and this one's so basic, but so crucial to remember is action over outcome, right? Don't be an outcome based goal setter because the fact of the matter is the goal just keeps changing, right? If you're into being fit, how fit is fit enough? If you're into accumulating finances, how much finances are enough? Finances, right. The goalposts just keeps moving. So instead, prioritize the action. I'm not going to be the kind of person that can lift one hundred and seventy five pounds on the bench press. I'm going to be the kind of person who regularly, consistently goes to the gym and applies diligent effort. Okay, that kind of goal never changes because as you change, the goal stays the same and you become the kind of person who prioritizes action over outcome. All right. And finally, the book that I read this year on this subject that I loved was Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg. Now everyone knows atomic habits, and it kind of reminds me of the two asteroid movies that came out. I think one was called, uh, Deep Impact, and the other one was Armageddon, and they both kind of came out the same time. I'm not sure which one was better. I was a kid and I kind of liked both. I do like the Steven Tyler song, so maybe I lean in that direction ever so slightly, but in a similar way, Tiny Habits came out right around atomic habits, and Atomic habits just blew up, pun intended. And I think it kind of left tiny habits in the dust. But it is a very good, very practical book. BJ Fogg. It talks about how to build habits, as the name would suggest. It's very practical, it's very enlightening, and it's different from atomic habits in a way that I think complements well. So. So there's my little shout out to BJ Fogg. Don't know you, but there you go. Free plug. All right, that's it. Next week, the full crew full complement will be back. Love y'all. Appreciate you guys. We are coming into twenty twenty six. Full steam ahead. We are excited. We got guests coming on. We've got new initiatives, new ideas new passions. Thank you for sharing this. Hey, if you want one tiny little New Year's resolution to add to the list, share the Provoke and Inspire podcast with a friend, family, or even a foe. Yep. That's it. Love y'all and we'll talk to you soon.

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