Why Freedom Takes Time

I frequently have guys ask me why freedom from a hang-up like pornography takes such a long time. This is a great question, and one that gets asked far too infrequently in our society. We live in a day and age that tends to believe change can be made quickly with a little hard-work and extra focus. Just take a look at the average New Year's resolution and you'll see how false this idea really is! If change was fast and easy, we would have fewer angry people, fewer people over-weight, and fewer people in debt.

But change that lasts is never easy. Why? The simple answer is this: that's not how God designed your brain to work! Imagine your brain like an incredibly complex roadmap, with highways and bi-way zig-zagging in every possible direction. Everyone one of these roads, called a neurological pathway, has been created by usage over time. The more we "use" one of these pathways, the more set and established that route becomes. Neurological pathways are the reason that you can drive home from work and not even realize you've been driving! Why? Because your brain has traveled that path so many times you can essentially get home on autopilot.

Now when you take time to think about this, God's creation is brilliance. Neurological pathways enable us to perform many of our routine daily tasks- brushing our teeth, getting dressed, washing dishes- without a tremendous amount of mental energy, thus leaving us free to work out more complex issues. (Such as, "why can't my kids get their dirty dishes all the way to the sink?") But sin has taken this divine system captive. This created design can also create pathways into unhealthy and unwanted behavior. Just as we drive home day after day and learn the route, so also our negative behaviors- be they eating habit, pornography, or expressions of anger- have become highways in our brain. We start down these roads before we even realize we have begun.

THIS is why change takes time. Changing a behavior is far more than just stopping something- it's rearranging the neurological roadway. Scientific research has shown that this process of reshaping the brain is a 2-5 year process. Consistent effort in the same direction over time, repeated again and again, can create realignment. And when we combine behaviors with God's truth and the support of others, real change is possible.

So freedom takes time. But just as sin becomes a highway, so does righteous living. Real freedom becomes a path we can walk with confidence as God, and our brain, firms up the highways that lead to life.

The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it. Matthew 7:13, 14- Jesus