Resist the resistance

Mrs. Tin, a good friend of my mom, remarks Christian life as easy to be understood but difficult to implement. She adds, "We know everything we need to know to be a follower of Christ. But why does this body keep refusing to do the right thing? We know we need to rejoice, we know we need to forgive, we know we need not to worry and fear, but we keep doing it anyway."

I have never really thought about it and what it really means. I presume that applying what we know is pretty easy as long as we have the desire to do it. But as this week goes by, I began to agree with her remarks.

This week started with a pretty strong message about winning life's battles. The locations of the hidden bombs have been identified too. The locations are summarized in the acronym HALT.

H - Hungry
A - Angry
L - Lonely
T - Tired

These are the red zones. The zones where the devils have set their shooters on. The zones where we should watch out. The zones where we really should open our eyes wide.

To avoid being hungry spiritually and physically, of course, we need to eat. And as we become angry, we should not let our anger stay for too long. Sunset means new clean slate, forgiveness. Surrounding ourselves with good company also avoids us from being lonely. And as for tiredness, we can try to live healthily by exercising and having enough sleep.

See, it was a good start of the week, right? A simple yet very practical message. But then I still am finding it hard to do all that. I sleep enough but have no spirit to work. I eat more than I used to but I have no energy.

It feels like every time we are trying to change our bad habits into good habits, there is always bigger resistance. Well in Physics it is natural. The greater the force exerted to move an object, the greater the force resisting the object to be moved. So, I conclude that this is us moving in the right direction. If there is a force trying to stop us to move forward, it is only natural. It is not natural if we gave up while we are just staring to move.

We need to keep trying even if we fail the first, second, seventh and eighth times.

Feeling lazy again? Useless again? Worthless again? Guilty again? Not in the mood again? It is natural! But do not stay there, keep forcing ourselves until we become purposeful, free from the devil's shackles, children of God.

Yes, it is difficult to form a new good habit, but people say it is well-worth it. Don't give up yet, brothers, don't.