YOU'VE GOT TO "WANT TO"

By: Norm Rasmussen

What's the secret to winning? If you're an athlete, you may already know the answer. You've got to want to win. If you're playing an opponent or a team equally talented as yourself, the one wanting to win the most will usually come out on top.

If you're a student, and you want to pull straight A's - of course taking into account your abilities and home environment - to got straight A's, the secret is to want to. Most students get good grades because something motivates them to want to, not just because they are gifted.

Think about it. Life is a process of "I want to's" or "I don't want to's". We have degrees of wanting to, or not wanting to, when striving to accomplish a given task or goal.

Have you ever been forced to do something you didn't want to do? What happened? You didn't do very well at what you were forced to do, did you?

When we do something we want to, there's fun it. When we do something we don't want to do, it's hard to find fun in it, isn't it?

Let's dissect wanting to or not wanting to further. Let's say I want to break my smoking habit. When someone confronts me to quit smoking, I usually respond by saying: "I can quit; I just don't want to." Right?

Let's say you actually go ahead and try to quit. But the longer you stay way from cigarettes, the more you want one. Your addiction eventually overrides our goal of stopping, and you give up. You go back to smoking. Why couldn't you quit? (Brace yourself- You'll probably disagree with me.) Because you didn't want to bad enough.

We are masters at disagreeing with this fact. We say: "I can't quit now, because I need to smoke to calm my nerves. I'm going through a rough time." Or, "I'll gain weight if I quit smoking. I'll drink more if I quit. I become grouchy and irritable around others if I quit." On and on we come up with excuses; some valid, some not. Whatever it takes, our mind somehow will come up with rationalizations and reasons to go back to our habit. And in fact, should your mind somehow run out of seemingly valid excuses, we'll even skillfully create new ones. We're truly masters at it.

Yes, deep down inside, when we think about it long enough, the real reason we don't give up harmful habits is because we don't want to bad enough. Let's be honest about it. Now give a sigh of relief. There's nothing wrong with that. Welcome to life and the human race.

But let's analyze the makeup of achievers. One secret I've learned about achievers is that they don't listen to their silent rationalizations of why they can't. They know that if they think about their cant's long enough, they soon won't even be wanting to. Whether we realize it or not, God has created us all to utilize faith in some way, shape, or form. Achievers realize that what they think about is actually applying faith - channeling their faith if you will - in the right direction to accomplish their goal to be reached. Non-achievers apply faith equally well, only in a reverse form. They continuously dwell on why they can't, which is fueling everything inside them and around them to see that they won't. The manifestation of can't is won't. The manifestation of can is I will.

Smoking, alcoholism, drug addiction, crime, lying, uncontrollable anger, stealing, poverty . . . whatever one's addiction or harmful habit or repressive socio-economical position . . . to get off or to get out, don't waste your time thinking about why you can't. If you do, I guarantee you probably won't. Rather, apply wisdom. Start thinking of why you want to. Force yourself day and night to think of why you want to. Want to is the key to break any and every habit or addiction or repressive position in life that holds us back from respecting ourselves and gaining the respect of others.

One of the numerous reasons why I love my relationship with the Lord is because He's a God who motivates me to want to. In fact, aside from all the things we as the human race think about when it comes to Christianity, few people, I'm persuaded, realize that Jesus Christ is the Master who motivates us to want to.

Philippians 4:13 in the Bible says:

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. However, the question for many of us would be, "Do we want to? Do we want to do all things through Christ who strengthens us, that God is asking us to do?" That's the real issue, isn't it? Pride has a way of holding many of us back.

Perhaps the best motivating factor a Christian has in the "want to" department is the understanding we should have about doing all things for God's glory. Our number one goal in life - our number one priority - should be to glorify God in everything we THINK, SAY, and DO.

My thoughts should be thoughts that glorify God, if everyone in the world could know my thoughts at all times.

My spoken words should be words that glorify God, if everyone in the world could hear those words.

My actions should be actions that glorify God, if everyone in the world could see those actions.

Now you and I both know it is not reality to do all these things without falling short from time to time, but here's the victory in it all. As Christians, we do not have to walk under condemnation when we slip in any of these three areas. Because our sins are forgiven due to Christ dying on our behalf and taking our punishment, we can continue to press on in these three areas, knowing that everytime we gain victory over something that is not glorifying God, we will be elevated to new dimensions of joy in our walk with the Lord.

My old nature: my sin-loving, rebellious, stubborn nature that God has saved me from through Christ's atoning blood (and is daily saving me from) thinks this: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me; I just don't want to.

My new nature: my born again nature that comes from the fullness of the Holy Spirit given by God from not only making Jesus Christ my Savior, but also my Lord (and there's a BIG difference, isn't there?) thinks these thoughts: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me; and I want to.

I want to, because that's why I was created - to glorify Him, not myself. Whatever God is asking me to do . . .whether in the Bible or that still, small voice from the Holy Spirit . . . I want to.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, because I want to . . . and I'm going to!