What are you aiming for? Are you aiming to be a better person? You have within yourself an innate need to grow. You want to be more tomorrow than you are today. You want to be a better human being. When you are confused about how to be better, you may find yourself wanting to own more possessions or earn more money. True, greater power and wealth may make you more wealthy and more powerful perhaps – but not necessarily better.
Unless we satisfy our thirst to become better, we are bound to experience frustration, dissatisfaction, and regret. Conversely, when we consistently work on improving ourselves, we feel fulfilled. Embarking on improving ourselves is a noble task, for when we improve ourselves and encourage others, we make the world a better place. Our role, then, is an important one. When we improve ourselves, we are in fact improving our society and the world at large. Never underestimate our power to make things better or worse in the lives of the countless number of people we will meet in our life span.
Therefore, it is not enough to get rid of bad habits, bad thoughts, and evil intentions. You must replace them with good and positive things. If you do not, you will eventually become worse than you were – not better. It is important to note, as well, that it is not “age” that changes you. “Change” is what changes you. So, if your aim is to become a better person, here are three changes you can make in doing so:
Change Your Playgrounds. Yes! You read correctly! There are some places that you simply must stop going to if you want to become a better person. Some of these places are physical, like a friend’s house, house of prostitution, gambling casino or places that serve no helpful purposes. You know those places best. The Apostle Paul says, we should “…abstain from every appearance of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:22). We cannot become better persons without changing the places where our moral and spiritual failures are most likely to occur.
Change Your Playmates. Few choices in life are as crucial to your well-being, and success, as the type persons you have as friends and associates. In other words, our “playmates.” We are easily molded by the character of our friends and associates.
The Bible is quite clear on this subject when it warns, in I Corinthians 15:33, that bad company corrupts good character. The old saying is so very true, “Birds of a feather flock together.” If you want to be a better person, then you need to associate with people who can help you to become a better person. You don’t need fifty of these people – one is enough. But it needs to be one, who is better, and can encourage and stimulate you to become better.
Our problem is that we usually find it easier to maintain friendships with those who share our weaknesses – and who will not challenge us to do better.
Change Your Playthings. Recreation is meant to be a blessing when it is virtuous, balanced and controlled. You need to be careful with what you play with. Avoid things that degrade or diminish us as human beings. Jesus reminds us, our eye is the lamp of the body.
“The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness” (Luke 11:34-35).
Becoming a better person requires us to exchange the things that only give us pleasure with things that bring God pleasure – activities that edify us, build us up and honour God. Avoid things that hold us back from growing in wisdom and stature. Paul says, “When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child, when I became a man, I did away with childish things” (I Corinthians 13:11).
So, if your desire is truly to be a better person, it is important to remember to change the places you go – change the people and things that drag you down. Exchange these with places, people and things that embody the type of person you want to become.
Remember – Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you. He who stops being better stops being good.
About the Author: Mrs. Marilyn Hodge owns and operates the Wellness Centre in the Farrington, Anguilla. The Centre offers Counselling Services by Appointment Only and has now published Positive Living Volume 2. Contact information: 476-3517 or email: marilynb@anguillanet.com. www.facebook.com/axawellnesscentre
