Which Comes First April 11, 2015

³³ I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”  John 16:33 ESV

When Jesus spoke these words to his disciples, he was beginning to prepare them for his departure and their persecution.  In the verses prior to 16:33, he references their being scattered and desertion of him.  He speaks of leaving this world and returning to the Father.  It is obvious when Jesus spoke here the "world" to which he refers is the physical world in which we all live.

But I was impressed this morning with a different world that Jesus has also over come and that we man follow suit.  That is the world that lies within all of us.  The world of our thoughts, attitudes, and emotions.  It is within this world many of have our longest running, most reoccurring struggles.

In a recent leadership course I attended, the participants were required to read Change Leader: Learning to do What Matters Most by Michael Fullan.  In his book, Fullan devotes some pages to the theory that behaviors change beliefs.  When facing change, a person will most often change their actions before they believe in a particular change that may be occurring.  

I  need to devote more time to study of this thought, because my gut tells me this might be right in the short term, but for any long-term, foundational change to occur, beliefs must preceed action.  I think we can incentivize a person to making short-term behavioral changes, but unless they change their belief system, there will be no long term change.

Fullan theory is that the short-term changes in action will create a change in belief system that will in turn facilitate long-term belief change.  

With the Christian faith, belief preceeds change.  We believe (belief) Christ offers salvation, so we accept Him (action).  We trust God to meet our needs (belief), so we tithe beyond the 10% (action).  We believe God's plan for our life is best (belief), so we change jobs (action).

If our belief, faith, trust were not present, I postulate we would take little action.