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August 31, 2015“DO IT! JUST DO IT!” YouTube has recently heard Shia LaBeouf scream this across the internet to various movie scenes and backgrounds to the humor of the world! (if you have not seen it, YouTube it!) Now the obvious route for a blog post on his speech is to talk about how we just have to DO IT when it comes to prayer and sharing our Faith with others. But in my mind that is too obvious…
Rather there is another way Shia’s speech connects to Christianity. The connection is found in 1 Corinthians 6:19 which reads: “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own.”
This reminds us that we are beings of both spirit and bodies. So when God calls us to glorify him, we can’t stop with prayers, we also must be caring for our bodies, minds, and our lives! In many ways then, the church would echo Shia’s call to us saying things like:
Do you want to lose weight? – JUST DO IT!
Do you want to run a marathon? – JUST DO IT!
Do you want to learn French? – JUST DO IT!
The church echos that part of the call just as loudly, and passionately as Shia. However the church also takes this to the next step, and picks up where Shia left off. The church also addresses how we supposed to “JUST DO IT!?” For example, if I was trying to quit smoking, I probably have not done it yet because I am worried about how to get from where I am to where I want to be. In other words, if I don’t see a way for me to achieve my goal, then yelling “JUST DO IT!” at me does nothing except makes me feel worse.
So what is a person to do?! Here are some simple tips. These tips are not the only way to achieve goals, but they are one way.- Identify barriers: If I am still trying to quit smoking, then barriers for me might be that I am worried about the pain of withdraw symptoms, or having to be around my friends who smoke.
- Risk analysis: Now that my barriers are concrete, the next thing is to ask myself what the worst thing that barrier could do to me if I tried to stop smoking. Well one possibility is that withdraw is too much for me and I end up smoking again, right back where I started. Again with friends, the worst thing that could happen is I can’t resist being around them and I end up smoking again. If I end up smoking again, I may have some hurt pride, but the reality is it’s not the end of me. I can always try again, with no additional risk!
- Breaking Barriers: The most important step to success is to not get stuck just thinking about barriers, and what could happen. At some point, I do need to sum up my courage, stand up tall and “JUST DO IT! DO IT! JUST DO IT!”