Learning to get along with yourself …

When people in the future look back on our current time in the 21st century, I think one thing that will stand out to them is the enormous amount of complaining we do.

It seems as though many have decided to use the amazing technology available to us today as a tool for publicly griping on a daily basis about the most mundane things they don’t like.

But of all the things we can gripe about, and blame for life not being however we want it to be, our biggest enemy in life — by far! — is ourselves.

No one has done, or ever will do, as much damage to your life as you have to your own being. One strand of proof for that:

“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard,” Romans 3:23.

Every one of us have been so self-destructive that we’ve imperiled our very souls by becoming enemies of God and alienating ourselves from Him. You can’t do more damage to yourself than that!

The problem is, wherever you go, there YOU are!

That reminds me of a story about a man who, surviving a shipwreck, was alone on a deserted island. After years of such solitude, a ship sailed nearby, saw a distress fire on the beach, and came to rescue the man.

Overwhelmed with joy, the man rambled on to the ship’s captain about his story of being alone for so many years. But the captain noticed in the distance three huts.

“You’re alone, you say?” asked the captain.

“Yes, it’s just me here,” replied the man.

“But I see three huts. What is that first one?” the captain inquired.

The man looked where the captain was pointing and responded, “Oh, that hut is my home, where I have been living.”

“Then what is the hut next to it?” asked the captain.

“Ah, that is my church, where I go to worship God,” the man explained.

With a curious expression, the captain queried, “So what is that third hut?”

“Oh that,” explained the man, “That’s the church I used to attend!”

Wherever you go, there YOU are! And there you’ll bring your lack of peace and problems unless and until …

You make peace with God. There’s no real, lasting peace to be had outside of a reconciled relationship with God. By entering into a covenant relationship with Jesus Christ, we put God and ourselves in proper order, acknowledging that we were created for the sole purpose of worshiping, glorifying, and enjoying God …

“Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see — such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him,” Colossians 1:15-16.

In Christ we find our purpose for being, the only foundation upon which a life can be built (Mt. 7:24-27, 1 Cor. 3:11); in Him we find the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John. 14:6)!

When you make peace with God, you discover peace for yourself!

“I am leaving you with a gift — peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid,” John 14:27.

“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you his peace at all times and in every situation. The Lord be with you all,” 2 Thessalonians 3:16.

You get ahold of your own thinking. Where does God start His transforming work in you when you finally surrender to Him?

Your mind …

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect,” Romans 12:2.

You can reduce human behavior to this: Our thoughts create our emotions, and our thoughts and emotions together create our behavior.

Most of us live lives grossly lacking in self-awareness, where we live life acting on mostly irrational unconscious thinking than mindful, prayerful consideration. For real life change, we need God to transform our minds, and then we need to practice mindfulness rather than living from a habit of absent-mindedness. God enables us to rightly use the wonderful minds He has gifted us with:

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind,” 2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV).

A note here: One of the most beneficial things a competent Christian clinical therapist can do for and with you is help you to dehabituate from irrational patterns of thinking and rehabituate to rational patterns of thinking.

You allow God to set your permanent default to “love.” God IS love, and God desires that we live as His children by loving Him first, foremost, and completely, then loving others. All others, from our family and friends to our fiercest enemies. If you refuse to love, you’ll be like the man on the deserted island who couldn’t even find peace in a church of a single member … himself!

Considering wherever you go, there YOU are, it’s important you learn to get along with yourself. That will require making peace with God, getting ahold of your thinking, and allowing God to set your default to love.

Scotty