Squiggly Green Brains
a picture to illustrate a point to my kids
I drew these pictures to explain something to my kids, and thought I’d share them here. Please, forgive my poorly drawn humans. And yes, those green squiggly lines are meant to be brains.
The first picture is us (kids or adults) when we have to do something we don’t want to. However, we may think that something bad will happen to us if we don’t do what’s right.
“I don’t want to pick up my toys, but if I don’t, I can’t watch a movie.”
“I don’t want to do the finances, but if I don’t, we’re not being wise with money.”
“I shouldn’t express my opinion right now, but if I don’t I’m going to burst!”
In order to do what’s right despite our contrary desires, we often give in to fear and use our willpower or strength to just grit our teeth and do it. This is how we walk in the flesh. We may be doing what’s right, but we’re not doing it through faith in Christ. We’re doing it in our own strength. The fruit of this might be: bottled-up supressed desires, pride in how we conquered our own emotions, judging others who don’t use their willpower like us, or being jealous of people who seem to enjoy life more than we do.
This next drawing shows how we might walk in the Spirit instead of the flesh. Again, we might not desire to do what’s right, but we can confess our desires to the Lord and remember that we need the Lord’s help to do anything good. This is prayer. This is repentance. This is becoming a child by asking God for help. We can ask God for help to transform our hearts and our minds. That is, He can change our desires and how we think.
Finally, we can use our willpower or strength to do what God is calling us to do. When we present our desires to God like an offering and wait on him, he heals our fears. Our motive is faith that Jesus can handle us in our entirety. He can handle all our desires and thoughts. Sometimes God then empowers us to take action. Sometimes God empowers us to encourage another to take action instead of us. And sometimes God empowers us to wait on Him until He reveals what He’s doing to us.
Side note: The above illustration is for cases when we clearly know what we need to do and just don’t feel like doing it. If we merely suppress our desires to do what we think we ought, this is not loving God with all our heart. If we shame ourselves for having contrary desires, this is not loving God with all our heart. If we pretend we don’t have contrary desires, this is not loving God with all our heart. Our hearts and desires are good. God made them and God wants us to use them to love Him too. Our desires tell us what we treasure. They’re signposts to discovering the treasure God has in store for us. This calls for another illustration in another blog. To be continued!
To read a similar illustration, click the link.
Good explanation...