What do you think is a more powerful motivator, pain or pleasure? If you think pleasure, let me ask you why you’re going to work today instead of going on vacation? It’s because the threat of the pain of losing your house, car, and belongings. The thought of that pain will motivate you to go to work instead of going to the beach. Pain has been proven to be a powerful motivator in humans, and it often causes us to do things differently.
At one point in my life, I wasn’t living how I knew God wanted me to. I did things that He considers evil, and I lived my way on my terms. I received several messages from God through scripture and from others, but I ignored them. I knew the things I was doing were wrong, but lacked the will power to stop. I kept pressing forward against God disregarding the consequences of my actions.
Then, one day, everything in my life started to crash down and implode. God started removing the things in my life to get my attention. If you don’t know, I’m a pretty stubborn person. I was a lot like Jonah. I kept going in the wrong direction despite the raging storm. I waited until all was lost before I decided to toss my selfishness overboard, admit I was wrong, and ask for forgiveness. It’s was very humbling, but effective in getting me to turn my life around.
Proverbs 20:30 says, “Sometimes it takes a painful experience to make us change our ways” (GNT). For me, that’s what it took. God broke me by sending me through so much pain I wanted to end it all. In the end though, I changed paths and now listen when He speaks. I don’t wait for the painful experiences to change the parts of my life He wants changed. Each of us have a choice when God speaks. We can change or we can keep on doing what we are doing. Like a good parent though, He will use whatever is necessary to get us to change our ways depending on how much motivation we need.
Devotions by Chris Hendrix 