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Pixels: Who’s the Villain, Who’s the Hero?

July 27, 2015 by Leave a Comment

GodOnFilm

 

God on Film: Pixels
Who’s the Villain, Who’s the Hero?
Sycamore Creek Church
July 26/27, 2015
Tom Arthur

 

 

Peace friends!

It’s a good day to be here as we continue our series God on Film.  Each week we’re looking at a different summer blockbuster and exploring a theme or two in that movie.  Today’s movie: Pixels.  Suspend your sense of disbelief for a moment and enjoy the basic plotline.  America sends a rocket into space in the 1980s that includes several cultural artifacts including sample video games.  Aliens intercept this rocket and instead of taking it as a sign of friendship, take it as a declaration of war.  They mimic the video game characters and come back to earth ready to do some damage, video game style.  One of those video game characters that comes back to Earth is Pacman.  Of course, Pacman is the good guy in the video game and the ghosts are the bad guys, but in this plot line, Pacman is the bad guy and the only ones who can defeat him are the ghosts.

The Problem
Here’s the problem I want to deal with today: We think we’ll always be who we are right now.  If we’re the good guy doing good stuff now, we’ll always be the good guy.  If we’re the bad guy now doing bad stuff, then we’ll always be the bad guy doing bad stuff.  You think that what you do is who you are and who you will always be.  What you are doing is a reflection of who you are, but it is not who you must always be or what you will always do.  You see this mistaken thinking in the parable of the turtle and scorpion.

A turtle was swimming up a river when a scorpion on the river’s edge got its attention and asked for a ride on the shell of the turtle.  The turtle said, “No way.  If I let you climb on my back, you’ll sting me and I’ll die.”  The scorpion replied, “Why would I do that?  Then we’d both die.”  The turtle realized the logic in the scorpion’s response and agreed to let the scorpion climb on its back.  Halfway across the river, the turtle felt the sharp sting of the scorpion on its neck.  The turtled shouted out, “Why did you do that?  Now we’ll both die!”  “It’s who I am.  I’m a scorpion.  I sting,” replied the scorpion as they both began to sink into the water.

Granted, there is some truth in this parable.  The most likely predictor of future behavior is past behavior.  But this is not always true.  I find myself right now having a hard time not raising my voice with my kids.  It’s hard not to do so.  Sometimes I feel like I will never change.  Likewise, I’m a thinker and debater.  My tendency is to tell you what I think about what you’ve said before really taking the time to understand it.  I’ve been talking to a friend about this and seeking to change.  One suggestion was to ask lots of questions before I jump in with my own thoughts.  But it’s so hard to remember to ask questions before making statements.  Sometimes I feel despair that I will ever be able to change.

These may not be your specific issues but maybe you’re not a good student and you feel like you never will be a good student.  Or you have always been overweight and you feel like you’ll never be a healthy weight.  Or you’ve never found a romantic partner and you fear you’ll be single your whole life.  Or you feel far from God and despair that you will never be or feel close to God.

Today I want to look at a story in the Bible of a guy who no one thought would ever change.  But when he encountered Jesus something amazing happened.   This guy is called “Saul.”  But that was his name before he met Jesus.  After he met Jesus he became known as “Paul.”  We’ll read the story as it’s told in the ninth chapter of the book of Acts in the Bible.

Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers.
~Acts 9:1 NLT

Whoa!  This guy Saul was out to KILL anyone who followed Jesus.  He was not just out to do it, he was eager to kill them!  Saul is essentially a terrorist.  I don’t think that’s too strong of a word to describe Saul.  He’s essentially like a member of Isis.  Now when have you gotten up in the morning and checked the news and seen a story about an Isis fighter and thought, “Man, this guy seems like a guy that God could really use in some big ways.”  Never.

Saul reminds me of a guy named Ken in High School.  Ken was a terror to all of us who were seeking to follow Jesus.  He terrorized us.  He would shout us down in the hall.  He would corner you and debate you in front of everyone walking by.  And he was good at debate.  He was on the debate team!  I’m not sure how many of these stories that got told about Ken were true, but that’s how we felt as Christians. We never went to school thinking, “Wow, Ken is really somebody that God could use.”  While Ken never threatened violence, Ken was like Saul for those of us who encountered him in the hallways of Ben Davis High School.

So he went to the high priest. He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains.
~Acts 9:1-2 NLT

Notice that it wasn’t just Saul here.  It was the whole religious system.  The High Priest of the temple was involved.  Not just one of the underling priests, but the top dog priest.  Sometimes it’s not just a person that seems like they’ll never change, but it’s a whole system.  And sometimes that system is the religious system.  Will the church ever change?

I think it’s interesting to hear how Christians were referred to at this point in the history of the church.  They’re not actually called Christians.  They’re called “followers of the Way.”  What way?  Jesus’ way.  They aren’t so much an institution at this point or a religious group, but followers of a particular way or set of practices or way of looking at the world that Jesus taught and lived.  It’s important for us Christians to remember that first and foremost we’re not an unchangeable inflexible institution but a community of people following a way that Jesus showed us to see and live.  But Saul was following a different way…

As he was approaching Damascus on this mission,
~Acts 9:3 NLT

Saul is a man on a mission.  He’s executing a military style strike on Christians.  But something happens that he doesn’t have a contingency plan for.

A light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”
“Who are you, lord?” Saul asked.
And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
~Acts 9:3-6 NLT

Saul encounters Jesus, and Jesus sees something different in Saul.  Something that those who are being persecuted could never see in Saul.  Jesus saw Paul, the first missionary of the church and the future writer of many of the books in the Bible.  But right now Saul’s group was without words.

The men with Saul stood speechless, for they heard the sound of someone’s voice but saw no one!
~Acts 9:7 NLT

Saul, the prolific writer of so many books of the Bible is speechless.  He is likely quite afraid.  And we know that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10).  Paul’s encounter with Jesus leaves him with a wound.

Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes he was blind. So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus. He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink.
~Acts 9:8-9 NLT

Saul’s encounter with Jesus creates not just a physical wound but an existential would.  Saul is in crisis.  He can no longer see. He can’t see who he is.  He can’t see the world around him.  He can’t see what he should do.  He is blind.

Now there was a believer in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, calling, “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord!” he replied.
~Acts 9:10 NLT

God works directly with Saul but he also works indirectly through people to bring about transformation.  In this case God is about to work through a man named Ananias.   Imagine Ananias’ reaction: “God, you want me to go to WHO?!”  This must seem absolutely crazy to Ananias, but he responds saying, “Yes, Lord!”

The Lord said, “Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas.
~Acts 9:11 NLT

So God tells Ananias to go to the “house of Judas.”  This isn’t the same Judas that betrayed Jesus, but it does remind us of that Judas.  While Judas began on the path of following Jesus, he ended on the path of betrayal.  But while Saul began on the path of betrayal, he ended on the path of following Jesus as Paul.  His life is transformed.  This brings us to the point of this entire message: it doesn’t matter where you began, it’s how you end that matters.  Judas began strong but ended in betrayal.  Saul began with betrayal but ended strong as a changed man with a new name: Paul.  It’s not where you begin that matters.  What really matters is where you end.

When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now. I have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying hands on him so he can see again.”
~Acts 9:12 NLT

The laying on of hands is a symbol in the Bible of reminding you who you really are.  Saul is reminded that he is not the persecutor that he thinks he is.  He’s something more.  Something deeper.  But he must be transformed into that something more.  There is at this point a physical and spiritual healing in Saul’s life.

Transformation and laying on of hands also happens in baptism.  There is the story told of a machinist at Ford who begins to follow Jesus and is baptized.  He realizes that he has stolen a lot of tools from his job, and this behavior is inconsistent with following Jesus.  So he decides that he must bring the tools back to his boss and confess what he’s done.  He explains that he’s been baptized and his life has been transformed.  The foreman is so impressed with the behavior of his employee that he sends a telegram immediately to Henry Ford who is visiting a plant overseas.  Ford responds, “Dam up the Detroit River and have them all baptized.”

The point here is that an encounter with Jesus and following Jesus changes and transforms your life because it changes who you are.

Another well known leader in the business world is Max DePree.  Max DePree’s dad was the founder of Herman Miller and Max was the CEO during the 70s and the 80s.  His leadership website points out that under his guidance, Herman Miller “became one of the most profitable Fortune 500 companies. From 1975 – 1986 it ranked seventh in terms of total return to investors.”  The site continues by adding that “He is readily forthcoming about his commitment to Christianity, and it is his theology, more than anything else, that shaped who he is and the way he lives.”  DePree was well known for running his business with employee participation and involvement in decisions.  He advocated the “silver parachute” (in contrast to the CEO “golden parachute”) in which terminated employees were given a severance to help transition.  DePree says in his book on leadership, “In the end, it is important to remember that we cannot become what we need to be, by remaining what we are” (Leadership Is an Art).

When we encounter Jesus and who we are is transformed, what we do is transformed too.  Saul is able to see again.  Who he is changes what he does.  He sees the world anew.  He has a new vision, imagination, and mission.

Three Pixels of Transformation
Pixel – noun pix·el \?pik-s?l, –?sel\
Any of the small discrete elements that together constitute an image.

So what does this mean for you?  A pixel is a small element of a bigger image and today I’ve got three pixels of transformation for you.  First, transformation is both a personal and corporate encounter with Jesus.  Paul has a very personal encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus.  We may not all have a “Damascus Road” experience with Jesus exactly like Paul’s, but we all need some kind of personal encounter with Jesus.  Just believing in an “idea” won’t keep us through the storms of life.  We give not only our mind/intellect but also our heart (that deepest part of our selves).  Sometimes this is emotional, but often times it’s not.  And yet Jesus has an invitation for all of us:

 “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.
~Revelation 3:20 NLT

Jesus personally invites us to a friendship with him.  But that encounter is also corporate.  Saul has to go to Ananias first.  You need someone who believes in you as much as Jesus does.  You need someone who guides you when you feel blind.  You need someone who lays hands on you and reminds you who you REALLY ARE.  These may not all be the same person.  They are more likely multiple people in a community of faith.  We all need a personal and corporate encounter with Jesus.

Second, we each need to be patient with the transformation process.  You don’t start training for a marathon by running 26 miles.  When you start training, you can’t run a marathon.  No real skill ever happens overnight.  It takes time.  Be patient.

Third, don’t give up the ghost.  In the movie Pixels, pacman is the bad guy and the ghosts, the original bad guys in the video game, are the good guys in the movie!  Don’t give up on the ghosts in your life.  Don’t give up on the “bad guy” who you think will never be transformed.  God can work in anyone’s life and bring transformation.  Remember, it’s not where you start that matters, it’s where you end.  You may think that radical transformations like Saul to Paul just don’t happen anymore, but you would be wrong.  They do.  Maybe one of the most dramatic in recent times is the story of Johnny Lee Clary. Clary was a professional wrestler who eventually became the Imperial Wizard of the KKK.  After leading the KKK he ended up encountering Jesus and leaving the KKK.  He became a preacher in the black denomination, Church of God in Christ (COGIC).  Here’s his story:

 

 

Jesus stands at the door of each of our lives inviting us to follow him.  He doesn’t care where you started.  What he is concerned with is where you end:

Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.
~Revelation 3:20 NLT

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Getting Past Your Past – Breaking the Labels that Bind*

April 24, 2014 by Leave a Comment

past

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Getting Past Your Past – Breaking the Labels that Bind*
Sycamore Creek Church
Tom Arthur
Easter 2014

Friends, Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!

Today we celebrate Easter and the power of God to take that which is dead and raise it to new life.  The first fruit of that we see in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. He was dead in his past and God raised him to new life!

Today we also begin a new series called Getting Past Your Past.  I’m really excited about how God’s resurrection power is going to use this series to work in each one of our lives.  Let me give you a preview of what’s coming up.

Next week we’re going to hit on the question of how to forgive those who have hurt us.  Then in week three we’re going to be discussing getting unstuck from your past.  On week four we’ll look at overcoming past money mistakes.  Week five is a unique message.  How do you own up to your own past mistakes and apologize to those you’ve hurt?  It’s part of getting past your past.  Then we’ll wrap up the series with the topic of forgiving yourself.  It’s my hope and prayer that in six weeks you will be able to look back and see God’s grace having worked in your life to free you from the grave of your past and resurrect you into God’s future.  Today we begin the series looking at breaking the labels that bind.

Each one of us has experienced someone in our past calling us or characterizing us in some way that we still carry with us.  We internalize this label and it becomes who we are.  This even happens in the way we tell stories or history.  Fill in the blank:

Attila the __________
Conan the __________
Billy the __________
Buffy the __________
Whinnie the __________
A Little Bit Off
We all have a label that holds us in our past.  I have several labels that I carry around with me.  Tom the “ungenerous.”  Tom the “holy roller.”  Tom the “over-achiever.”  But the one that really sticks with me is Tom “just a little bit off.”  This label comes from a very specific moment in my teenage years with my group of friends that I so desperately wanted to fit in with.  This group of friends started noticing that I didn’t always pick up on the cultural references they would make and the insider jokes that came from them.  The label, “just a little bit off”, came one day when they were referencing a favorite band of theirs saying, “We’re rockin with Dokken.”  Now back in the day, I didn’t know who the band “Dokken” was, and I thought they were saying, “Rockin and dokkin.”  So that’s what I said.  They thought this was hilarious and kept me in the dark about my mistake.  So for about two or three years they would say, “Rockin and dokkin” and laugh.  I thought they found me funny for some reason so I began to say “Rockin and dokkin” quite often.  They’d laugh and then say, “Tom you’re just a little bit off.”  Pretty soon they found all kinds of ways I was a little bit off.  Ironically enough, one of Dokken’s most famous songs is “Breaking the Chains.”  I didn’t break the chains.  But I am today!

Probably one of the reasons I never caught their cultural references was because I lived in a more urban environment, and they all lived in a suburban culture.  I was too busy listening to Vanilla Ice and watching his MTV videos trying to learn how to dance to have any interest in 80s and 90s hair rockers, all apologies to Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, and the rest.  But what did they have on Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer, my first live concert?  Ok, so maybe I am still a little bit off.  But today God is resurrecting me from the grave of my past music choices.

The Point
So what is the negative label that usually follows your name?  Here’s a truth I want you to know today.  It’s the whole point of this message:

God’s power is always bigger than your past.  God’s truth is bigger than any current truth in your life.

Even if you own a label that in many ways is true about you, it doesn’t mean it must continue to be true tomorrow.  God can take what is and make it no longer true.  God can and will give you a new God-centered view of yourself.  Paul, the first missionary of the church and the author of many books in the Bible says it this way:

Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person.  The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT

As we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection today, we see that the grave can lead to the resurrection.  God can resurrect you from your past!  That which held you hostage will hold you no more.  I’d like to look at three ways that God does this.

New Name
First, God will give you a new name.  The prophet Isaiah speaks to Israel after they’ve been conquered by the Babylonian empire and taken into exile saying:

You will be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will bestow.
Isaiah 62:3 NLT

God is in the business of giving new names.  It happens all over the Bible.  Abram and Sari wanted children, and it just wasn’t happening.  But God worked in their life and they became pregnant and God gave them both new names: Abraham and Sarah.  They became the father and mother of many nations.  Jacob means swindler or huckster or usurper.  He was always doing shady stuff with his older twin brother Esau.  God worked in his life and gave him a new name, Israel, which means “one who wrestles with God” or “God will prevail.”  Of course, if you wrestle with God, God will prevail!  Then there’s poor little Gideon.  He was pretty much afraid to stand up to his enemies.  But an angel of God showed up and called him a “Mighty man of valor” and “warrior.”  (By the way, this is always happening to me, angels showing up and calling me a “mighty man of valor.”  Always.)

So what name do you need changed?  I’ve got to say that the name “pastor” has always been a struggle for me. I’ve never really felt like a pastor.  I’m not the warm fuzzy cuddly guy you come talk to who will listen intently, nod, give you lots of encouragement, and send you on your way feeling like you can take on the world.  In an online assessment we use at our church “pastoral” is my bottom leadership trait.  But when September 11 happened I was working at a church and my pastor was on vacation out of town hunting in Colorado.  All the flights were grounded, and I was left to take care of the largest Protestant church in Petoskey.  After that weekend, the church began calling me “pastor.”  I bristled at the name, but eventually experienced a call to be a pastor.  Then I did my first internship at Reveille United Methodist Church in Richmond, VA.  When I got there they all just called me “pastor.”  That summer I became a pastor in my heart because the church looked at me as a pastor, but I still didn’t like the name, “pastor.”  Then I graduated and was appointed by the bishop to Sycamore Creek Church.  I told you all that you didn’t have to call me “pastor Tom” but some of you kept calling me it, but I never referred to myself in that way.  In the last year, you may have noticed that I’ve actually begun occasionally signing my letters “pastor Tom.”  I’m growing into the new name with you.

You will grow into your new name too.  God is going to give you a name and you will grow into that name.  You will be called “forgiven.”  You will be called “overcomer.”  You will be called “spiritual mom.”  You will be called “spiritual leader” to our kids in Kids Creek, our youth in StuREV, or to adults in a small group.  God will give you a new name.

New Purpose
Second, God will give you a new purpose.  Your new name comes with a new purpose.  One of Jesus’ followers was named Simon.  Simon was unpredictable, undependable, and wishy-washy.  He was a fisherman.  Jesus walked by his boat one day and said, “Follow me and you will fish for people.”  Simon, you may look like you’re a lowly fisherman, but you’re going to follow me and become a world-changer.  You’re going to speak eloquently to thousands and thousands of people and through you, they will come to know me. A little later Jesus gave Simon a new name:

Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.
~Jesus (Matthew 16:17 NLT)

If you know the story you’ll know that Peter was not always a rock from that point forward.  He messed up again and again.  Peter denied Jesus three times.  After the resurrection, Jesus forgave and restored him.  But Peter was the preacher on Pentecost, the birthday of the church, and three thousand people came to follow Jesus on that day alone!  Tradition tells us that Peter was so rock solid in his commitment to follow Jesus that he was sentenced to death by crucifixion, and he did not feel worthy to be crucified like Jesus.  So he was crucified upside down.  The negative label that Peter was known for was turned on its head.  He was no longer wish-washy.  Now he was a rock of faith.

God can take the associated label with your name and turn it upside down.  You’re a “tightwad” and God will give you a new purpose to make you generous.  You’re “unfaithful” and God will make you know for your faithfulness.  And on and on and on.  What’s the opposite of your negative label?  That will be God’s new purpose in your life!

Out of our greatest weakness God can grow our greatest strength and purpose.

New Future
Third,God will give you a new future.  The prophet Jeremiah spoke for God to the Israelites as they were in exile in Babylon saying:

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you…
Jeremiah 29:11 NLT

Notice that the word is “plans” not “plan.”  There’s not one right plan for you.  There are many good plans for your future.  So you’re “always the bridesmaid and never the bride.”  God’s plans for you may be that you become comfortable in your singleness or that one of many good godly men will come along and you’ll get married.  Or maybe you think your kids will never grow up to be anything, but God will use them in mighty ways.  Or I’ll always have this addiction, and instead you will lead people out of addiction.  Or I’ll never get out of debt, but rather you will get it together and be able to be generous with others and teach others how to do so too.  Or I’ll always be fat, and God will turn you into a P90X superman who trains and inspires others to get in shape too.  Or I’ll always be childless, and in God’s power you’ll have children or adopt or have spiritual children.  God will give you a new future.

Maybe one of the most inspiring stories in the Bible of a new future is the story of Rahab “the prostitute.”   She’s always got the label, “the prostitute.”  The label was true.  She was a prostitute, and there were two kinds of prostitutes in that day.  There was the respectable temple prostitute and the unrespectable prostitute that gets picked up on Cops.  She was the Cops prostitute, but when Israel was conquering the promised land, she helped them out and God honored her choice.  (If you’d like to see how the recent Bible series told the story check it out here.)    She hid the Israelites spies and got to know God.  God brought her a God-fearing man named Salmon and they had children.  The Rahab “the prostitute” became the Great…Great…Great…Great…Great grandmother of…Jesus, the son of God, the savior of the world.  God gave her a new future!  The same God who raised a dead Jesus from the grave, can raise your dead future and give you a new living future.

Friends, here’s the problem.  You can’t break the labels in your own power.  You’re stuck.  Each one of us is broken and wounded in some way or another.  Each of us is a “little bit off” or a lot off.  Each one of us has missed the mark of God’s will for us.  Each one of us is in a pit too deep for us to climb out on our own.  We can’t free ourselves from the labels.  You need the power of God that raised Jesus from the dead to break those labels, give you a new name, a new purpose, and a new future.

Many of you were brought here by God for this very moment.  You think that you came here just to appease your mom or your grandma who are always wanting you to go to church, and well, it’s Easter.  So you finally gave in to their nagging.  But God has another plan for you today.  The plan is that you would know the saving power and grace and mercy and compassion and kindness and love of God that raised Jesus from the dead.  God’s plan for you today is that you ask God to forgive you of your past mistakes and free you to follow Jesus into a new name, a new purpose, and a new future. Here’s how you do it.  Tell the truth about yourself to God.  Stop pretending to be someone you’re not.  God knows it anyway and God already loves you in spite of whatever you think you need to hide.  Telling the truth about yourself is less about telling God something God doesn’t know, and more about getting out of a state of denial in yourself.  Then ask Jesus, God’s son, to forgive you and lead you as a new person.  Paul says

If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
~Paul (Romans 10:9 NRSV)

Will you do that today?  If so, I invite you to pray with me.

Good and gracious God, you showed us your power in the resurrection of your son, Jesus Christ; may that same power raise me from the grave of my past and give me a new name, a new purpose, and a new future.

I’d like to challenge you today to come back and stick it out through this series.  Be here every week.  Let this commitment be the first commitment of your new life in Jesus.  If you’d like to talk more, drop me an email (tomarthur@sycamorecreekchurch.org).  May God give you a new name, a new purpose, and a new future!

 

*This series and sermon are based on a sermon series first preached by Craig Groeschel.

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Switch by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

July 21, 2010 by

SwitchSwitch: How To Change Things When Change Is Hard
By Chip Heath and Dan Heath
Audio Book
Rating: 9 out of 10

Chip and Dan Heath offer an exceedingly helpful and practical book on the art of change.  The title and the cover showing a light switch miss the book’s main strong guiding metaphor.  Making change is like helping a rider on an elephant go down the right path.  The rider is the intellect.  The elephant is emotion.  The path is the circumstances, situation, and context that the rider and elephant find themselves in.  A successful change happens when the rider/intellect is spoken to in clear and unambiguous ways, the elephant/emotions are motivated, and the path is cleared of all obstacles.  Switch is itself written in this manner.  The book engages the intellect in easily understandable ideas, motivates one’s emotions to be a change agent, and the simple metaphor helps clear the path forward to accomplish change in one’s personal life, business life, or community life.

Often times leaders seek to bring about change by engaging the intellect alone.  This can be seen by the ubiquitous Power Point presentation with graphs and charts.  The problem with this approach according to the Heaths is that when you’re speaking to the intellect, you’re speaking to a rider who is straddling an elephant of emotions.  The rider may understand and agree that change is needed, but without getting the elephant motivated, the rider will become tired over time.  This dynamic of rider-fatigue decreases as the behavior that one is seeking to change is replaced by habits.  Habits help the rider because they are like paths that the elephant can easily follow, but sometimes the both the rider and the elephant are motivated but change still doesn’t take place.  This may be due to the lack of a clear path.  How simple is it to change?

Among many studies cited, the authors point to a study done on eating popcorn.  Two groups were given huge containers of popcorn that were impossible to finish during the course of a movie.  The only difference was that one group was given an even bigger container.  Even though both groups did not finish all the popcorn in their containers, the individuals who were given the bigger containers ate more popcorn!  Throw in the small detail that the researches gave both groups ten-day old popcorn and the results of this study are astounding.  Sometimes we eat more simply because of the situation.  A simple solution to losing weight, according to the Heaths, would be to simply get rid of all your dinner plates and eat only off of your salad plates.  Provide an obstruction-free path for the rider and elephant to follow.

One question I have as a Christian leader reading this book is what role sin plays in the lack of change.  The authors clearly put most of the blame on bad habits in the hands of the context rather than the individual.  They see positive reinforcement for the rider, elephant, and path as the primary means of bringing about change.  But what role does and should contrition, sorrow, confession and repentance play in changing?  Perhaps one way of understanding the role of sin in this book is that we as a species have a hard time changing simply by knowing what is the right thing to do.  This situation in itself is lamentable.  And then there’s the brokenness of the culture around us that we collectively participate in which reinforces unhelpful and even sinful behaviors.  This is both individual and corporate sin, and while Switch does not name it as such, the Christian must do so, because we will never make enough switches in our life that everything is perfect.  We still need a God who saves us from both ourselves and our context.

While I have this one theological quibble about the role of sin in making change, overall I found Switch to be chock full of helpful ideas on how to implement it’s one main metaphor: speak to the rider, motivate the elephant, and clear the path.  I can and already have implemented many of these ideas in my own life and leadership over the course of the several weeks that I’ve read this book, and I suspect I will read Switch again in the future.

Currently Reading/Listening:
American Saint: Francis Asbury and the Methodists by John H. Wigger
Sober for Good by Anne M. Fletcher
The Shack by William P. Young
God’s Economy by Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove
The Expectant Father by Armin A. Brott and Jennifer Ash
Following Jesus in a Culture of Fear by Scott Bader-Saye
The Gift of Fear by Gavin De Becker
Documents in Early Christian Thought edited by Wiles and Sante

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