Daily HOPE Devotional - You Can’t Change Everything on Your Own

You Can’t Change Everything on Your Own

BY RICK WARREN — JANUARY 5, 2017

“So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body” (Ephesians 4:25 NLT, second edition).

Lasting change requires honest, authentic community. You need people in your life who will tell you the truth in love. There are some things in your life you will never change without the help of others.

You may be so embarrassed by certain issues in your life that you won’t talk about them with anyone. But how well has that strategy worked for you? If you could change your life on your own, you would have already done it. You can’t!

You need to stop lying to yourself. If you want to change, you will need other people to help you. You will need to be in gut-level, authentic community. This is why small groups are so important. But you need more than just a small group. You need one person within that group with whom you can be completely open and honest. You don’t have to open up to everyone, but you need to open up to someone.

God wired us in a way that we need each other, but that means we cannot get rid of our bad habits and hang-ups on our own. You can’t do it alone, because God made you to need other people.

The Bible says, “So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body” (Ephesians 4:25 NLT, second edition). If you’re a believer, you belong to the Body of Christ. You belong to other believers. You were not made to live the Christian life alone. You can’t do it.

If you’re serious about changing the deepest, darkest defects in your life, you have to overcome the fear of being honest. We waste an enormous amount of energy trying to cover up our sins, our hurts, our hang-ups, and our defects. If you spent as much time being honest about what’s not right in your life as you do covering it up, you’d have a lot more energy for what is right in your life.

Our biggest hurdle to holiness is our desire to look good. Once we get over that, we’re free from a huge roadblock that stands between us and where God wants us to be.

Want to make a change in your life? Open up to someone and be honest about your failures.

Talk It Over

• Who are the people in your life with whom you can be transparent and honestly discuss your struggles?
• What do we learn about Jesus Christ when we are in genuine community with other believers? What does that kind of community model for the world?
• “Our biggest hurdle to holiness is our desire to look good.” How has this been true in your life?