#ownworstenemy

As human beings we don’t always do a great job at helping ourselves. Whether that’s battling sin, organizing our priorities, taking the exercise we need to stay healthy or keeping our finances under control, all too often we make our lives harder than they need to be.

In an idle moment (or, if I’m honest, a moment in which I was avoiding doing something far more important) I logged on to Twitter and typed in #ownworstenemy. And it seems I’m not the only person to have noticed this trend! Whether it’s a rant about a favourite football team failing to defend and haemorrhaging goals; a student’s plaintive cry that they’ve left reading War and Peace until the night before the seminar or a diet gone astray after the latest trip to the doughnut shop, there’s a whole world of people out there who seem to be shooting themselves in the foot on a regular basis.

And I am no exception. For me, the hashtag would be best applied to my diary. I adore my life – it is full of wonderful things and even more wonderful people – but I often seem to spend it in a state of exhaustion because I repeatedly add things in with little or no thought (or prayer!) as to whether I actually have the time to do them. It’s not that I’m being sacrificial – often usually just not thinking and, in the process, bringing unnecessary tiredness on myself time and time again.

What about you? What would your #ownworstenemy be?

The good news of the cross, is that there is change in the here and now. We don’t have to stay the way we are. So, if we are aware we have this #ownworstenemy tendency in our lives, it’s worth asking ourselves some questions:

• When do we tend to fall into the trap of shooting ourselves in the foot?
• What motivates us to act in the way we do? (Are we seeking comfort or popularity or significance or security or trying to suppress guilt when we do the things that bring us harm? What are we pursuing more enthusiastically than God?)
• What do we need to repent of?
• What biblical truths do we need to remind ourselves of?
• What prayerfully-considered, practical strategies can we put into action to change the way we behave?
• Who can we be accountable to? And pray with?

We wont be perfect this side of Jesus’ return. But rather than being our own worst enemy we can pursue the teaching of Colossians 3 and let our actions reflect the very nature (name) of God:

“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”(V17)

I think I’m going to ask a group from church to make me accountable for my diary … How about you? How will you begin to stop being your #ownworstenemy today?