- So here's a question for you. Have you ever been
your own worst enemy? Have you ever been
your own worst enemy? And the answer is Yes, you have been
your own worst enemy, maybe not some big
macro, you know, big area or some big, you
know, some big decision that kind of undermined
your whole future. But at some point
in all of our lives, we have been our
own worst enemy. I was trying to think of
a time to tell you about and be vulnerable
and all of the ones where I'm my own worst
enemy, I'm too embarrassed but I did think of one big one. I was my own worst enemy in
my first semester in college, when I found out at the
end of that first semester I was on academic warning and
then I was my own worst enemy, my second semester
we had semester, I was on the semester system, when I found out I was
on academic probation. Okay and in school, you really have no one
else to blame, right? It's just you, you and you. You're your own worst enemy. And the thing that
makes it so memorable is not that part,
it's the next part. We live in Tucker and I
remember that specifically, my mom said she wanted to
talk to me about college. So I was living at home
going to Georgia State and so she sits me down
at the kitchen table. You know, there's
just certain memories that are etched in your mind. You can see the
colors on the wall and this is one
of those moments. She sat me down and I thought she was gonna give
me the pep talk. Like Andy, you can do
anything you set your mind to and if you believe
you can achieve and you can do all
things through, I don't know what
she was gonna say, but I'm ready for the Andy
you need to buckle down and here's what she
said, and I quote, Andy, college is
not for everyone. (crowd laughing) That is a direct quote. Andy, college is
not for everyone. And I realized even my own
mom didn't really think I had what it took to
get through college. And I went from becoming
my own worst enemy to becoming my own best friend because it scared me so much. Now all of us have kind
of interesting kind of like look back
and laugh stories, but have you ever seen anyone who like did this up
like did this up big? I mean they became their own
worst enemy with their career or in their marriage
or with their finances or relationship with
one of their children. And you stand back and
you see it happening, you see it happening kind
of unrolling and unraveling and you're thinking, you're
doing this to yourself. And when you watch that, you kind of think the
same thing I think, you think, well you know what? That they may undermine
their own marriage, they may undermine
their own career, they may undermine
their own world, their own finances or their
relationship with their kids. But I mean, I may have some
interesting kind of laugh about it later stories about
becoming my own worst enemy, but I would never do
anything like that, right? But here's the thing
that's true of all of us and I'm talking to
me as well as you. We all have the potential. I don't even know you, but
this is what I know about you. Every single one of
us has the potential to become our own
worst enemy, right? And the reason I know
that is because you, and this is all of us, but I'm
picking on you for a second. You have participated in all
of your bad decisions, right? You have participated in
100 of your bad decisions. In fact, you were, and
picking on it a little bit and same truth for me too, that we were the masterminds
behind our own bad decisions, and here's why
this is a big deal. Because a single bad decision,
I mean, you know this, a single bad decision is always the first step toward becoming
your own worst enemy, right? It's not like it
happens all at one time, it just unravels over
time and the people that you've watched become their own worst
enemy in a big way. It started with small things, it started with one simple
single decision, right? Because every habit, every habit
begins with the first time. And every pattern begins
with the first line. And every journey begins
with a first step. So we all have the potential to become our own worst
enemy if we're not careful. So what we're gonna
do is in this series, I wanna give you three things. I wanna give you three things
you can begin doing today that will help ensure
that you don't become your own worst enemy in
a way that you are able to look back and laugh
at it in the big ways, the ways that really
wreck and ruin and cause whole seasons
of our lives to be wasted. And we look back and
wish we could go back and do our twenties over, our thirties over,
forties or 50s or do a first marriage over, do a first career
over, three things. Now, the interesting thing is Jesus doesn't use
this terminology. Jesus doesn't talk about don't
become your own worst enemy. But in his teaching,
he's very, very clear. In fact, in one of his
most famous parables, he says this, he says, anyone
who hears these words of mine and does not put
them into practice, you may remember
this from childhood. Anyone who hears these words
of mine and does not put them into practice is like a man
who became his own worst enemy. He didn't use that terminology. Here's how he said it is like a man who
builds his own house. Ah, you should be commended. On the sand, Oh Oh! Who builds his own
house, good job, on the sand, and
when the storm came, he recognized he has no
one but himself to blame because of the poor
foundation of his home. So this is a principle, this potentially
impacts all of us and Jesus went right
to the heart of it. So in this series, what I wanna do is I wanna
suggest three habits, three habits that really
serve as preemptive habits to ensure that you don't
become and I don't become and the people we love don't
become our own worst enemy. So today I'm gonna give
you the first habit and then in the next two
weeks we're gonna talk about habit number two
and habit number three. So, the first thing, the first thing that we
must all do to ensure that we don't become
our own worst enemy is pay attention to the tension. Pay attention to the tension. Even if you were sitting alone
at home in your living room, I would like all of us to
say this together, ready? Pay attention to the tension. What is the first thing
you need to do to ensure that you don't become
your own worst enemy? Together, pay attention. That's right. Whenever you're considering
any option, any invitation, anything that comes your way, any choice that
you're about to make and it causes, if the option
you're considering causes any sense of hesitation,
a little bit of tension, a little bit of pause, it in any kind of way
dings your conscience. Stop and pay attention
to that tension. Don't start selling yourself. Start listening. Don't sell yourself,
start listening. Because here's what
happens and we know this. As soon as you see
something you want, as soon as you get invited to something you're
interested in, as soon as there's an option that kind of inflames
that appetite. As soon as you see someone
that you want, what do you do? You do the same thing I do. You start selling yourself. You start selling
yourself on this idea. And what's interesting is we
lie to ourselves (laughing) and then we believe
our own lies. I think only human beings
are capable of this. We make up things and then
choose to believe the things that we made up and here's
how I know that's true. Then and you have to be
a little creative, okay? If a sales person, if
a sales person used the same pitch on you
that you use on yourself. If a salesperson in an
actual retail environment use the same pitch
on sales pitch on you that you use on yourself,
you would be so offended, you would walk out of
that establishment, right? I mean, imagine if somebody, you're standing there
and the negotiator you're thinking about
purchasing something and they said
something like this, Hey, if you get home and
decide you don't like it, just donate it. But how many times does
that run through your mind as you're about to
buy something online? But if somebody actually
said this to you, you'd be like, do what? How about this? Hey, I see that you already
have one that does everything this one does, but
this one is newer. I mean, you would look
at the person like, that's your pitch? I mean, that's it? But that's the kind of stuff we still tell ourselves
all the time, right? How about this? Yes sirree, it is
wrong, wrong, wrong, so just don't tell anyone. (crowd laughing) Okay, now we're gonna dig a
little deeper, are you ready? Sure, your husband would be hurt and offended if he found out, but your husband isn't
bright enough to find out. (crowd laughing) I mean, how offended
would you be ladies if somebody said that
about your husband? But what do you tell yourself
when you start trying to sell yourself on a bad idea? Well, he, right. Okay, well, yeah, we're
gonna go both sides of this. Yes, your girlfriend would,
she would be devastated, but let's face it, she's
not nearly as attractive. I mean, if somebody
actually said something bad about your girlfriend,
you would be so offended. But listen to the self-talk. Listen to the
narrative you create, we're gonna talk a lot about
the narratives next time. Is someone to actually
said to us the things that we say to ourselves, to sell ourselves on a bad idea that sets us up to become
our own worst enemy, we would be so
extraordinarily offended. This is why you can't
afford an I can't afford to start selling ourselves. Instead, we need to pay
attention to the tension. The moment, I mean, this
is the habit right here. The moment you start
selling yourself, hit pause. The moment you, I mean
cause we do this every day, we do this all the time. The moment you start creating
an internal narrative as to why something is okay
or something's justifiable or something's permissible, in that moment, we should
just hit pause and say, wait a minute, I'm doing it. I'm doing that thing. I am making things up and
choosing to believe them in order to do something that
something in me is telling me, maybe I should hit pause. Because remember this, if you don't hear anything
else I say today, this is it. Remember, we rarely, we rarely, we rarely have to sell
ourselves on a good idea, right? You rarely have to talk
yourself into knowing when something is the right
thing, the wise thing, the prudent thing to do. Now, there is a fascinating
piece of narrative in the Hebrew Bible
that us Christians call the Old Testament, but it
started off as the Hebrew Bible or the Jewish scripture. There's this fascinating
piece of narrative. If you grew up in church, surely you have heard
this before at some point. If not, then you're
in for a treat because this is one of the
most interesting detailed written stories in the
entire Old Testament, and it illustrates, but better than illustrate,
this story actually illuminates or brings insight
into this whole idea of paying attention
to the tension. The story revolves
around King David, who was Israel's second King, but the story actually takes
place before he became King. Now, if you know anything
about the Hebrew Bible or the history of the Jews, David who became
Israel second King stepped onto the pages of
history as a shepherd boy. And then he was, suddenly he stepped
into the spotlight when he killed Goliath. Read the story of
David and Goliath, and he became legendary
kind of almost overnight because he was this young
man who faced this giant, you know this Philistine
who was taunting the armies of Israel and he'd follow, you're not taunting
the armies of Israel. You're taunting the armies
of God and God's just looking for a volunteer and
I volunteer and boom, suddenly he's famous. Well, King Saul, who was
the King at the time, Israel's first King of course brings him close
because he's become a legend and he gives him prominence
with the military, he eventually marries him
off to one of his daughters, so now the King is
his father in-law, but then as time goes by,
David becomes so popular, Saul realizes that David
is a threat to his dynasty. Because people are gonna
want him to be the next King. In fact, the rumor
was at that time that David had
already been anointed as the next King of Israel as a little boy
because in fact he had. So suddenly Saul's
not so fond of David even though he's married
him off to his daughter. In fact, when you read the
story, it's so interesting. Saul decides to use his
daughter to manipulate David and then Saul decides
to kill David. Then Saul says, no,
I'm not gonna kill him. I'm gonna keep sending him
out to fight the Philistines and eventually the odds
are gonna be such that the Philistines will
take care of David, but we've got to
get rid of David. Well none of Saul's tactics
work and so David becomes more and more and more popular. So then one afternoon
he loses his temper and he tries to kill
David and David flees. He flees, he has
to leave the city. He can't go home because had
to put his family in danger, so he flees, he makes several
really, really bad decisions and he becomes an outlaw. And as a result of
him being so famous, all the other fugitives in
the land of around that region of the world who are
related to the Jewish people at the time, they weren't called
Jewish people at the time, but the Hebrews at the time, they all started following David and the next thing you know, he's got his own
Band of Merry Men and eventually it becomes
like a small army. But it's a small
army without a home because they're all outlaws. It's a small army of
men who can't go home. But they rally around David and they see David
as his leader. Well, meanwhile, Saul is
busy running the kingdom, but he's always on
the lookout for David and he has spies everywhere
looking for David because he needs to eliminate
David before he dies so that his son Jonathan
can become the next King rather than David becoming
the next King of Israel. And one afternoon he
gets a report that David and his Merry Men had
been spotted in the desert or the region of Ein Gedi. And if you've ever
been to the Holy Land or if you've ever
been to Jerusalem, you can actually visit
this area of the world. It's just along the
sea of the Dead Sea and it just looks
exactly like this. It is just barren, wasteland
with a few (mumbling) sprinkled here and there it is
full of caves and mountains. And again it borders, you can
see this next picture kind of borders on the Dead Sea. So this is the region that
David and his men are. So the text says
that Saul took 3000, which was way more men than
he needed to fight David. But again, David is
a valued warrior. He's famous for his ability
to fight out in the open. So he takes 3000 able young
men from all of Israel and he sets out to look
for David and his men. So they're gone for several
days and eventually they come to an area that we're not
sure exactly where it is. But when this was
originally written the people who
originally read it, knew exactly what
the author meant. He came to the sheep pens
and there was a cave there. And actually when you go
to this region of Israel, there are caves everywhere. There was a cave there and Saul
went in to relieve himself. Fun fact, maybe. I think this is the
only reference to going to the bathroom in
the whole Bible. But I could be wrong
about that, okay? I don't know what
everybody else did, but at least Saul, we know
had to relieve himself. And this is a strategic
part of the story and it's why the
author included it. So here's the picture. 3000 men, that's
a lot of people. The long caravan with
some camp followers, with wagons, with food, I
mean this is a big ordeal. Saul is a little bit, you
know, back from the front. Saul has to go to the bathroom. Now, if you're just a
regular guy in the army and you have to go to the
bathroom, you deal with it. But when you're the King, you
can stop the whole caravan, get off your mule,
he rode a mule and he makes his
way up to this cave by himself to use the bathroom
while everybody else waited. And if you've heard
this story before, here's where it takes the
most interesting twist. David and his men were
actually in the very cave that King Saul chose
to stop and use as his, you know, his private bathroom. And they're far
back in the cave. Now, what are the odds of that? I mean, there aren't
even in the odds, right? I mean, talk about
the stars lining up, talking about God smiling on
you or the gods smiling on you. I mean, this is a
best case scenario. This was an answer as we're
gonna see in just a minute. This was an answer
to David's prayer. So the context, a little
bit of what must've happened is Saul had his spies
out looking for David and David had his spies out, making sure that Saul
wasn't anywhere close and when David's spies
found out that Saul was not too far behind
him, David said to his men, scatter hide in the hills. We'll wait for Saul and
his men to go through, we will reconvene
and go the other way. But it just so
happened when King Saul and his caravan got right
into the area where David and his men had
dispersed to hide, that's when he had
to go to the bathroom and he happened to
choose the very cave that David was hiding in. Now get the picture. David's eyes have adjusted,
he's been in the cave. Saul walks in and he
can't see a thing. And he walks just far enough
in to do his business. But when he walks into the cave, he is just a silhouette
and David and his men are in the back of the cave
and they look at each other and they cannot believe this. I mean, what's running
through his mind? I mean, if you had been
an outlaw for months, we don't even know how much
time David had been outlawed this time and just
living out in the hills. What's going through your mind? Clearly, I mean you don't
even, this isn't a prayer, this is you just know. God had clearly
delivered David's enemy. I mean literally into his hands. David had already
been anointed King. Everybody knows
he's the next guy. The only thing standing
in the way of David to become the next King
is Saul and here he is. And if we don't think
that's what was running through David's mind, we know it that's
what was running through David's men's mind
because the text says, this is what his men whispered
to him, far back in the cave. The men said to David, this is the day the Lord
spoke of when he said to you, I will give your
enemy into your hand for you to deal with
them as you wish. This is what David had told
his men over and over and over. As they sat around
the campfire at night, he would say to them, look,
guys just a little bit longer, just a little bit longer, stay with me just a
little bit longer. Eventually I'll be the King. And when I become the King, I'm gonna reward those of
you who were most loyal to me during the mean
times and the lean times in these difficult times. So they're looking at
David's saying, you're right. This is exactly
what you promised. This is exactly what you
told us would happen, but we could not imagine
it would happen like this. This is the very thing
God promised you. And now the waiting is over. Kill the King and let's go home. And the optics on this
would have been amazing. So now let's imagine we're
outside the cave, right? And we're lined up,
bored and yawning and waiting for the
King to come out and would keep glancing
over at the cave. King Saul went in,
David steps out. With King Saul's
head in his hand. And everybody in that caravan would immediately
recognize David is the King of Israel. No civil war, very little
bloodshed, lives spared. So can you imagine
the adrenaline? Can you imagine the emotion
in the cave that afternoon? Can you imagine the
pressure David felt to do something about this so he and his men could
finally go home? Besides this had
to be God's will. I mean, this can't
be a coincidence. It had to be God's will because
God had already declared that David was gonna
be the next King. The pressure he felt to act,
we can't even imagine it. But the text tells us
and as the story unfolds, David felt something
else as well. There was a tension. There was a hesitation. There was a tension that
didn't make any sense in light of the circumstances. There was a hesitation
that didn't make any sense in light of the flow of the
story and the flow of his life. This tension made absolutely
no sense and so he ignored it. And he did what any of us
would probably have done if we had the opportunity. The text says that
David took out his knife and he slowly crept up
unnoticed behind King Saul. But as he gets closer
and closer and closer, that tension intensifies and
intensifies and intensifies and somehow, some way,
he was able to stop and pay close attention to
the tension and suddenly, and some of you've
experienced this. I want all of us to
experience this eventually. Suddenly somewhere between
the back of that cave and King Saul's back, suddenly his decision to kill and to murder King Saul
was completely reframed. Suddenly the hesitation
that made no sense, made perfect sense. Wait! Wait, what am I doing? I'm about to murder the King. Wait a minute, wait, wait, wait. I can't murder the King. I mean, God chose Saul, I can't replace what
God put in place. This is gonna be my legacy,
this is gonna be my story, this will be the story
that people tell about me. I mean, I love the one they
sing about David and Goliath, but I don't know that I want them turning this
into a song, right? I don't want this
to be the story I have to tell my grandchildren,
granddaddy, grandpapa, tell us how you
became King again. We love the story you snuck
up behind old King Saul and you slit his throat
while he was using the potty, tell us that story again. (crowd laughing) I mean, is that really
the story you wanna tell? In fact, the text
tells us that David was conscience-stricken. And somehow with all this
energy and all this, you know, testosterone and
all this adrenaline and everything going
on in that cave, suddenly he was stopped and he
was able to stop long enough and pay attention to
this irrational tension. He was able to pay attention
to his irrational conscience. And it saved him from
becoming his own worst enemy. Because in that moment, he would have become the man who murdered
Israel's first King. He would become the
man who murdered his own father in-law. The man who allowed him to rise to prominence after he killed Goliath. And so somewhere between
the back of the cave and King Saul's back, this
all gets reframed for him. And he realizes, Oh my goodness, no wonder there's a tension. No wonder there's a hesitation. He was conscience-stricken. And he snuck up behind King Saul and he took King
Saul's disregarded robe and he cut off the corner
and he went back to the cave. And there his men
hiding in the cave, can you imagine,
they're in shock. They can't believe this. Now he has some
explaining to do. And they're like, they
just can't believe what they just saw. I mean, this was the
perfect opportunity. They can finally go home. There will no longer be
a price on their heads. And he said to his
men, the text says, he said to his men. The Lord forbid, this is amazing that I should do such
a thing to my master, the Lord's anointed. Actually, wait a minute David. You know, two and
a half minutes ago, he wasn't your master,
the Lord's anointed. Two and a half minutes ago, he was your enemy,
what happened? And then the men
are saying, okay, if you won't do it, we'll do it. In fact, we'll all
do it together. If you don't wanna have
blood on your hands, we understand that. Just let us do it. And with these
words, the text says with these words, David
sharply rebuked his men and did not allow
them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave
and went on his way. Fuh! So close, so close, so close. So let me ask you a question,
we'll get back to the story. Are you close? Are you contemplating
something and you're selling, selling selling selling and
spin and spin and spin and spin. And you've kind of decided,
you've sort of got there. You know your husband, he's not so sure your
wife's not so sure some of your friends
are like, really? I mean, and then you've got
other friends are going, Oh yeah, Oh yeah, Oh yeah. Everybody, everybody
culture, culture, culture or, how are you so close? Is it possible that right now, if that you can't even believe
I'm talking about this? It's like, what? This is exactly what
I'm going through. Are you so close? Are you selling yourself? Come on, let's just, you don't have to be
honest with anybody else. I mean, you lie to
yourself all the time at least be honest with
yourself for a moment, right? I mean, me too, right? Are you selling
yourself on a bad idea? Are you ignoring
your conscience? Is there an internal hesitation, an internal tension
and you've just kind of pushed right by it? Are you selling yourself
on an idea that's gonna or a decision that's
gonna follow you around for the rest of your life? That's gonna make
you a liar for life? Because you're never
gonna want anybody to know this part of your story? And you're never
gonna want anybody to tell this part of your story? And one day when
you have children, or one day when you
have grandchildren
and tell your story, you get to this part
and you just kinda are gonna have to skip over it? Are you on the verge of
becoming your own worst enemy? If so, can I just
make a suggestion? I'm not, the boss of you. I mean, I'm not, you know,
I can't tell you what to do, but can I just
make a suggestion? Would you at least hit pause? Just stop for a moment
selling yourself and just listen. Listen. Listen to the wiser
voices around you and perhaps listen to that
still small voice on the inside of you that's going
(clearing throat) I don't think that's
the best thing because it may be, I
don't know, just guessing. It may be the whisper
of God who loves you, who loves you and
is doing everything he can to keep you from
becoming your own worst enemy. So as the text says,
Saul exits the cave. He has no clue as
to how close he came to joining all of
his dead ancestors. He goes back, he
gets on his mule, and as he gets on his
mule, this is amazing. He hears a voice. And it's a familiar voice. And it's coming from the
direction of the cave he just exited and everybody
in the whole, all of his men, everybody in the caravan,
everybody involved, everybody's head turns
and standing at the mouth of the cave that Saul
just came out of is David. Flanked by his men. And David bows low
in honor of the King. And then he stands up and he holds up the
corner of Saul's robe. And in that moment,
and here's the moment, I don't want you to
miss in your life. In that moment, here's the
moment I don't want you, I want you to be able to tell
your kids and grandkids about and your friends about some day, your future husband
or wife someday. In that moment, everybody there
knew who the better man was. It was David. David gives a little speech. It's very interesting. I'm not gonna read
the whole thing, but at the end of the speech,
here's how he concludes. He says, Saul, may the Lord be
the judge between you and me. And may the Lord avenge the
wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you. I'm going to do the right thing. I will not take matters
into my own hands. And because David listened to
that still small hesitation, that tension, that little
ding of his conscience in a moment when most
people would just have paid no attention to it. David decided, and this
is where some of you are, David decided not to use Saul's
bad behavior as an excuse, for bad behavior. So how about you? As you think about the
option you're considering. That big life change
you're considering. That thing you've pretty
much talked yourself into, in fact, the wheels
are already turning. Are you considering, are you considering
behaving badly based on somebody else's bad behavior? Because of what they did to you, because of what they're
trying to do to you, because of what
everybody else around you does? Come on, are you
considering becoming like someone you don't even like? Are you selling yourself? Remember, we rarely ever
have to sell ourselves. We rarely have to ever
have to sell ourselves on the right thing to do. So now, all eyes turned
from David to Saul. And he is completely
humiliated by David. But here's the
interesting thing. He's not humiliated by
David's military skill. He's humiliated by
David's character. He's humiliated by
David's self-control. He's humiliated by
David's humility. And Saul has no choice. He turns his army around and
he heads back to Jerusalem. That's the power
of paying attention to that tension. When my daughter Allie,
I have three children Allie is our youngest, now when she was
the eighth grade, she and I were studying
for a test together using a study guide. And as we were studying
it occurred to me that her older brother Garrett had had the same class
with the same teacher the year before, and I thought I wonder if there are any old
tests to study from. She said, Hey dad,
we can't do that. I said, yeah, if the
teacher gave out tests and he knows that these
tests are floating around and in college, you
know, do it all the time. So I went digging
around and sure enough, I found an old test, alright? And I don't, this isn't
a parenting seminar, I'm just telling you
what happened, okay. (crowd laughing) This isn't for
modeling, this is for, it's just that what happened. So anyway, so we sat down and
we studied through this test to get her ready and
she was an A student, so it wasn't a big deal. So, you know, anyway. So she goes to
class the next day, the teacher hands out the test and it's the same test, right? Yeah, so that afternoon
she gets home from school and I ask what every good parent
asks when they have studied with their children for a test. I said, Allie, how
did we do on our test? (humming) You know what you asked, you wanna know what kind of
grades you made, you know? She said, dad, you're
not gonna believe this. It was the same test and I
felt like I was cheating. I'm like, no, no, no,
no, you weren't cheating. It was the teacher's fault. If they're gonna hand
these things out, they know that these
things are floating around. Not that I'm not giving
parenting advice. Let me just reiterate that
this is just what happened. And I said, besides, you're
an A student, you know, I'm trying to ease
her conscience. She said, no, no,
no, dad, it's okay. I told him. Now I'm like, what? (crowd laughing) You told on yourself? (crowd laughing) Whose child are you? Okay? (crowd laughing) So then I have to switch gears. Like, Oh, I'm so glad you did. That was the right
thing to do, you know. I'm so proud of you. You know, I'm just sorry
because I'm the one that got you into trouble if I need that. She's like, no, no, no
I didn't get in trouble. Like what? She said, well, he
meant to have it. He had another test and he
got to school that morning and the copying
machine wasn't working so he couldn't make copies so he just had copies
of an old tests and used the test that, you
know, Garrett had, you know, when he was in the same class. I'm like, Oh, I said, so
you didn't get in trouble? She said, no. He was proud of me
for telling him. I'm like, yeah, me
too, me too, me too. (crowd laughing) So the point of
this is, come on, an eighth grade
girl felt tension. What do you do
with that tension? Do I tell my teacher or not? And when she thought not,
she felt more tension. So she decided to pay
attention to the tension rather than pay
attention to her father. Anyway, you're gonna
get by that real quick. Anyway, so she paid
attention to now, now I know what you're
thinking, thinking, Oh, that's so cute, you know. What's that got to do with me? It's got everything
to do with you. Here's why. Because the tension that you
are wrestling with right now, the tension you're wrestling
with right now falls somewhere between choosing
whether or not to tell your math teacher
you studied from an old test and
murdering a King. (crowd laughing) I think we've book
ended about everything you and I could
experience, right? It's somewhat this side
of murdering a King, it's probably somewhat this side of what are you gonna
tell your math teacher, but the principle is the same. What are you gonna
do with that tension? If there's something
that you can't quite put your finger on, hit pause. If there's something where
you find yourself saying, I just have an
overactive conscience, maybe, but maybe not, hit pause. If there's something
that someone else has put their finger on and you're mad
at them for bringing it up, but then when you got
alone by yourself, you can't get it off your mind. You can't get it off Your
heart it's bothering you, here's my advice. Let it bother you. Don't rush by it. That tension may be God's
way of protecting you from becoming your
own worst enemy. And ask the question,
I know it's painful, but I'm telling you
for some of you, this is like a curtain
is gonna open up and you're gonna have clarity. You're gonna hate the clarity, but you're gonna look
back and be so grateful for the clarity. And ask the question,
is there a tension? Is there a tension that
deserves my attention? Is there a tension that
deserves my attention? This is a preemptive
strike against becoming your own worst enemy. Because after all, every
habit, you know this, every habit begins
with a first time. And every pattern begins
with a first line. And every journey begins
with a first step. So if something bothers you
about him, let it bother you. If there's something that
kind of bothers you about her, let it bother you. If there's something
that kind of bothers you about the deal,
let it bother you. If there's something that
bothers you about that set of circumstances with that
invitation or whatever it is, just don't rush by it, don't brush by it, sit on
it and let it bother you. Face it until it
either goes away or you decide to
go a different way. Because, well
oftentimes it begins as nothing more than
an uneasy feeling, over time becomes something that is supported with
reason or insight. It's that moment that
David had as he crept up behind King David and
it's like, wait a minute. Wait, wait, wait, wait, what? I mean, yes. In one context, this
makes perfect sense. In another context, I am about
to murder my father-in-law. What was I thinking? So I'd like for you to consider
making this commitment. We're gonna have a commitment
for each of these three ideas. And the first commitment
is simply this. This is simple. Would you be willing to pause
until you pinpoint the cause? Would you be willing to
make this commitment? I'm gonna pause until
I pinpoint the cause. Or another way of saying it. I'm going to explore rather
than ignore my conscience, I'm going to explore,
why does that bother me? Why am I uneasy about that? Everybody else says it's okay, everybody else is involved,
everybody else does it this way. I'm gonna explore rather
than ignore my conscience. Is there a tension that
deserves your attention? If so, pay attention
because that's a decision you will never regret. In fact, that's a decision that
will lead to fewer regrets. That's a decision
that will ensure that you don't become
your own worst enemy.
