WHY DO I KEEP WATCHING?

I am so sick of the news. It’s mind-numbing redundancy. Soap operas are fast moving and changing in contrast with the news these days. And yet, I keep watching and reading it. When I turn my TV on, I instinctively turn it to a news channel. The same tends to be true with the radio and even my computer. Are you kidding me? I keep doing what I hate, and it’s making me question my own sanity.

Hmmmm! Sound familiar? I’m finding this isn’t a news thing…or a Brad thing. It’s a nature thing; a habit thing; a human thing. We all tend to fall into ruts and, instead of doing something to get out, we just keep pushing down on the gas pedal. We do it in our personal, relational, and vocational lives. Even worse, we do it in our spiritual lives.

But, there is a solution. Identify the problem, (rut, habit, etc.), and make the choice to change your behavior. I’ve begun doing this with the news. After instinctively turning it on, I then consciously change the channel or turn it off. In my car, I’ve been listening to a lot more music lately. It’s been refreshing.

Now, of course, there are areas of life and certain habits that are far more challenging to overcome than watching the news. (How’s that for understating the obvious?!) But, the principle is the same. Identify the problem and make the choice to change your behavior. It always helps to invite others into the circumstance to help…especially those who don’t have the same weakness or have overcome the same problem themselves.

Sometimes, inviting others into the circumstance is the only way out. This is certainly true with our spiritual lives. Apart from Christ, we can’t get past or overcome our sin, and we can never know or experience the love of God. But, it’s often true when dealing with other powerful habits that have developed in our lives…from an obsession with food to pornography.

So…here’s my simple encouragement. Stop watching. Change the channel. Do something else…anything else. Identify the problem, make the choice to change, and invite some trustworthy person or people into the circumstance to help.