“And he arose and came to his father.”- Luke 15:20
In Chapter 9 (“Time to Get Up”) of AHA, Kyle Idleman begins with the story of his high school senior class trip. On that trip he saw someone bungee jump for the first time. Taking note that his classmates were duly impressed with that feat, Kyle blurted out: “I’d do that, but I’m not going to spend forty bucks on it.”
No sooner had the words escaped Kyle’s mouth when one of his classmates (a girl) pulled out a twenty-dollar bill and said, “Would this help?” Kyle’s back was against the wall. His bluff had been called- in front of everyone. Kyle admits that on that day he didn’t so much as bungee jump- he bungee fell.
Pastor Idleman asserts that it’s one thing to way what you’re going to do, but another thing to actually do it. Conviction must lead to change. Most of us get stuck when it comes to action- the final step in AHA. In a well-known study of heart bypass surgery patients, Dr. Edward Miller discovered that two years after surgery, 90% of the patients had not changed their lifestyle.
Pastor Idleman asserts that we get stuck between honesty and action because we deceive ourselves into believing that because we feel differently we’re really doing something different. We mistake conviction for change.
Today’s question (from Kyle): What are the barriers between brutal honesty and immediate action? Why is it so difficult to pass through them? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Lights! Camera! Inaction!”
