But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.
Luke 8:15 (NKJV)
Many people use the New Year as a starting point to kick old habits.
The crowds that were at the shopping malls a few weeks ago will soon be flocking to fitness centres and drafting resolutions to get out of debt, improve their relationships or overcome addictions. Unfortunately, the change that happens is often only temporary, and despite people’s best intentions they revert back to their old lifestyles.
That’s because they focused on making external changes in attitude or behaviour while overlooking necessary changes on the inside. But in order to make permanent changes, you need to go deeper. Modern psychology calls this deeper part of you the subconscious; the Bible calls it your heart.
If your heart is filled with beliefs that lead to low self-esteem, poor habits and destructive thoughts, you’ll be hard pressed to rise to a higher level because each time you try to change, your heart beliefs will pull you down. On the other hand, if you want to make lasting change and rise above addiction, depression, low self-esteem or whatever else is causing self-destructive behaviour, you need to be more discerning about what gets planted in your heart.
The more you meditate on God’s Word and listen to or read biblical teaching, the more you fill your heart with great beliefs that lead to great results.
This year, go beyond resolutions. Plant God’s Word in your heart and create lasting change.