The importance of asking ‘Why?’

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It seems that most of the time we have a tendency to look at a challenge and try to formulate what we can do to fix it. That has happened to me many times. I start to figure out a way to get it done. When we do this we are getting the cart ahead of the horse.

The very first thing we should do when facing a challenge is to ask ourselves the question; “why?” This is taught in many motivational classes and it is something that we all need to consider. Answer the question, “why” are we facing this challenge, before we decide “what” needs to be done. For instance, a breaker blows in your electric panel and you just keep resetting the breaker because that is “what” you do. When the right thing is to reset the breaker and if it blows again, find out “why” it is not holding.

I have seen people that are self-destructive because they refuse to answer the question “why.” If you get picked up for speeding, the fix is not to watch more intently to see if a police officer is around, the fix is to ask yourself “why” did I get picked up. The answer: I was breaking the speed limit. That is “why!” If you don’t break the speed limit, you will not get picked up for speeding.

I deal with people that are making bad choices in their lives and the one thing they have in common is that they never truthfully ask themselves “why.” They always try to deflect the result of their bad choices on someone or something else. These destructive excuses will ruin families, relationships, and futures. Our chance of making the right choice is to honestly address the question “why.” The problem is that our human nature does not always want the truth.

Paul was dealing with his human nature in Romans 7:19. “The good that I want to do, I do not do: but the evil I don’t want to do, that I practice.” He ask a question in Romans 7:24. “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” Paul then answers that question in Romans 8:1-2. “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” (the flesh is human nature)

“Why” are we not walking in the Spirit? Could it be our sinful flesh is out of control?

These are the everyday issues we deal with at the Gathering Place every Wednesday evening at 7 and Sunday morning at 9:30 and 10:30. “Why” not join us?

https://www.recordherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2022/06/Pfeifer-column-mug-3.pdf

By Pastor John Pfeifer

Getting Ahead

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