Just Don't Do It: All-In August #7

Hi, Dr. Leigh Warren. This is Maggie from Healdsburg, California.

I'm all in, and so are my sisters and a couple of friends. We're loving being all in together.

We're loving sharing what we're learning and putting into practice as we become

pros at the things of life.

Thank you for helping us. Thank you for your wonderful podcasts and your wonderful guests.

We're so grateful. Good morning, my friend. Hope you're doing.

It is early in the morning, talking up or having coffee and we're all in.

So yesterday I told you if you hadn't started yet, it wasn't too late. You can start anytime.

You can start all in whenever you are ready. Now is the time.

And so we got that beautiful voicemail that you just heard a moment ago.

And I'm just glad that resonated with some folks.

In my heart this morning, when I got up, there's an episode I did a while back

that was just really just about, about it was called, you'll feel better if you don't.

There's these times when we're trying to press in and we're trying to do things

right and God's calling us to some new part of our lives and that old resistance

pops up and we're tempted or sometimes just inertia, if that's a word, inertia.

I have to ask my sister, the English teacher, about that one.

Michelle, you let me know if inertia is a word.

Just made that up, I think. Sometimes we come up to a big task,

we come up to a big moment and we're about to have a breakthrough.

And because the breakthrough seems scary or hard, we slide back down into our previous problem.

Remember Chris Voss's book, Never Split the Difference, that I told you about before.

He says you don't rise to the occasion when the pressure's on.

You fall back to your preparation.

Another thing to think about in that regard is that sometimes we don't rise

up out of our habits and patterns and things that we've always done to comfort

ourselves or numb ourselves or take our mind off something hard.

Sometimes we don't rise up to those things.

We just fall back into our old routines. So it's not that we're evil or failures or whatever.

It's so easy to slide back into

the inertia of sameness that it's always been. So this is all in August.

And this is about the time that you're going to hit one of those walls.

You're going to start feeling some resistance.

And it's going to be easy to just slip back into the way it used to be,

just go back to how it was and abandon the all-in call.

So whatever area of your life it is that you're pursuing this new mindset,

that I'm going all in. I'm finally going to just give it all to God.

Let him open those doors and places I've been hiding behind and break down idols

in my life and get out of habits and start new ones and really fix a relationship

or really break through professionally or whatever it is that you've decided this is your month to do.

Now's about the time, about when it's going to start getting hard and it's going

to get real easy to just slide back in to some other way.

Let's say that you're trying to change the way you talk to people.

You're trying to use less coarse language or less offensive language.

You're trying to find new ways to use your words for God's glory.

Sometimes you have this tension built up inside you, and it's easy just to slip

into an old pattern of how you talk to people.

And this week we saw a good example of that, or a good example of what happens

if you're careless with your words. when there was a football coach at the University

of Oklahoma that was giving a class some instruction to his wide receivers.

And he noticed that one of the players wasn't paying attention and the player

was goofing around on an iPad.

So the coach just grabbed the iPad and said, let's just read to the class what

it is that you're working on.

And he read some stuff that was on the kid's screen and apparently it contained

some racially insensitive language. language and the coach got fired for reading

out loud somebody else's stuff.

So the coach didn't write it and the coach wasn't looking at that website.

The coach wasn't doing any of those things. He just read out loud and said some

words that were hurtful to students to hear a coach in that kind of power position

say, and this guy lost his job over that.

So the idea that when we're trying to go all in, we have to be very diligent and very careful.

Like the world is watching us. The world is paying attention.

If you're going to try to set a higher standard, take a higher path to really

achieve what God's got for you.

There's going to be some opportunity for other people to snipe at you or for

you to make a careless mistake and fumble and hurt your witness or hurt your

ability to accomplish those things.

So just, I want to give you back this old episode called You'll Feel Better

If You Don't. It's got some ideas in it.

It can resonate around this idea of being very careful, as Paul said,

with how you live, not as unwise, but wise.

We're trying to make a difference in the world, right? We're trying to break

free from old things that have held us back and break into something new.

And this is about the time we're going to start hitting some resistance.

I needed to give you this, and I feel like there's somebody out there who's

going to hit, and it's going to be helpful.

So if it was you, if you hear this morning and this is something that you needed

to hear, then hit me up with an email at leah.dr.leewarren.com or a voicemail

at speakpipe.com slash dr.leewarren.

And let me know. I love it when God nudges me to do something and somebody else

says, hey, that's exactly what I needed.

So let me hear from you. Speakpipe.com slash dr.leewarren.

We're going all in. But I hope wherever you are and whatever you're doing today

that you're all in with us.

Check out the book All In by Mark Batterson. I would love for you to read that

book with us, All In by Mark Batterson. Listen, it's time to go all in.

It's going to be easy to slip up and fall back off the wayside.

Be careful how you live. Be careful what you say. Be careful to pursue these

goals that God is calling you to.

And don't be afraid to press harder into all in August, despite the resistance.

And the good news is, my friend, you can start today.

Remember also, as we're going all in, that my book, Hope is the First Dose,

is the neuroscience textbook for this month. It gives you the neuroscience information,

a treatment plan for what to do when you deal with trauma, tragedy.

Or other massive things.

It helps you understand the basis of self-brain surgery, and it will give you

some tools that will really help.

So check out Hope is the First Dose. Don't forget to share this episode with some friends.

Let's try to get people all around the world going all in. Here's the episode.

You'll feel better if you just don't do it.

Let's get after it. believe it or not people are still emailing me about the

episode I did about cussing about that I got one this week about whether or

not it's okay to use strong language in a funny story or a joke,

And I'll admit I've got some really hilarious real stories of patients and people

over the years who said things that were hilarious, but they involve a word

or two that I wouldn't use in a real conversation.

But the more I think about these things, I just keep going back to what the

Bible says in Ephesians 4, 29 and 30, when it says, don't use foul or abusive language.

Let everything you say be good and helpful so that your words will be an encouragement

to those who hear them and do not bring sorrow to God's Holy Spirit by the way you live.

The NIV says, let no unwholesome word escape your mouth.

That's a pretty high standard. I don't know the answer. Apply it for yourself.

Pray about it. That's what the Bible says. We'll go from there.

But the real issue, the reason I brought that whole thing up is that we are

given the ability as humans to do self-brain surgery and choose how we let our

frontal lobes influence our behavior.

We have these giant frontal lobes that can influence the deeper parts of our brain.

They can influence how we behave when the amygdala and limbic systems and the

neurotransmitters are going crazy and they're telling us to react instead of carefully respond.

We have the ability to control those things with our frontal lobes,

and that's what God gave us.

So we ought to use our brain to bridle our tongue, to bridle our behavior,

and we'll be happier. here.

And if you do that, your life will look a little bit holier, a little bit cleaner.

It'll be a little more attractive to people who are maybe looking for something

that you have that they don't have.

You'll be more influential if you clean that up a little bit.

And if you're a writer, your language and your sentence construction skills

will improve as you avoid the low-hanging fruit of choosing swear words to convey emotion.

Cleaning up your language really does improve your brain chemistry.

It makes other people feel better.

It prevents you from ever casting God in a poor light if you're known as one

of his followers, because that's really what it means when it says to take the Lord's name in vain.

If you're known as a person who wears the Lord's name and you're living in such

a way that brings dishonor to him, you're taking his name in vain.

It's not just about words that you say that have his name in them.

It's a bigger standard than that.

That's all I have to say about that. We can go back and listen to the other

episode. We're going to leave that behind, but people People are still emailing me about it.

But while we're talking about self-brain surgery to help us bridle our tongues,

today, I want to talk about the issue of temptation.

Now, it'd be easy to turn that into an episode about sin or religious things,

and that's not my job. I'm not a preacher.

But as for me, my faith and my science are all wrapped up in one another. I can't separate.

So you're going to get brain science and some Bible verses every time.

I'm sorry, I just can't help myself. That's who I am.

But I want to talk about what happens when you're tempted to do something.

When you're tempted to do something, whether it's a sinful behavior,

like sleeping with somebody you're not supposed to or cheating on a business

deal, or whether it's just whether you should buy a certain thing or eat that

second piece of Lisa's Nutella French toast.

You should, by the way, eat that. You almost always get some kind of nudge in

your heart or spirit about that thing, don't you?

You almost always get some sort of nudge about what you should do when you're

trying to make a decision.

Decision. In my worldview, that's the work of the Holy Spirit.

He's the part of God that gives us conscience and helps us guide our decisions.

And if you're attentive to your own heart, you will agree, I think,

that you almost always get some guidance or some sort of nudge.

Or if you're not spiritual, you would at least probably agree that you usually

know in your heart if you should or shouldn't do something before you do it.

Today, I want to talk about that for a few minutes because when you're agonizing

over a decision and you feel that little tug telling you usually feel better if you don't.

So I want to figure out why that is and how to use it to our advantage in our

quest to become healthier, feel better, and be happier.

And I want to start today. Okay. 1 Corinthians 10.13 in the Bible.

This is your one Bible verse for the day. 1 Corinthians 10.13 is the famous

temptation verse. Here it is.

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful.

He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.

But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

Now, as an aside, this verse is profoundly misused.

It's misused a lot, and people use it to say that God will do something that he never says he will do.

People say, God will never give you more than you can handle,

and they use this verse to say that.

But the fact is, he will, in fact, give you more than you can handle sometimes.

He will put, even if he has to, he'll put a stumbling stone,

Stolperstein, in your path so that you will fall and humble yourself before

him if that's what it takes to get your attention because he has a better way

for you. Sometimes he will bring you low.

That's not what this verse is talking about. This verse is specifically talking about temptation.

Read it again, 1 Corinthians 10, 13. No temptation has overtaken you except

what is common to mankind.

Basically, everybody's been through the thing you're going through before.

And God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.

But when you are tempted, he will provide a way out so that you can endure it.

Listen, he's not talking about trials or trouble or illness or loss or anything

except temptation here.

He's saying that when you are being tempted, he will be faithful and present

opportunities for you to avoid the trap.

I just want you to think about that for a second. You're about to click purchase on Amazon.

You've added something to your cart and you're about to click complete purchase

for that sweet doodad that you've had your eye on, even though you already have 12 of them.

Note as an aside, this doesn't apply to The guitars, guns, women's shoes,

or handbags. You can buy as many of those as you want. Just kidding.

But just before you push the button, you feel it. Wait on that.

You don't really need it. You hear that little thing in your head.

Happens over and over again. Right before you send that angry text message or

that email in which you're about to tell somebody off, you get a little nudge. I shouldn't send this.

Right before you laugh and thank that person at the office for the compliment

that you know is a little more than just a compliment. You know in your heart

that you ought to say something like, thanks, my wife tells me that all the

time, or hey, that's what my husband says.

You should shut that thing down. You know it in your heart.

Right before you sign a contract, just as you're about to resign from a job

or accept a position or agree to a dinner or buy a car or click on a link or

download that porn video,

you're about to accept an invitation to a hunting trip even though you've already

been on five this year and your kids want you to stay home. You hear that thing, don't you?

Don't do that. Wait on that. Don't send that. Don't buy that. Don't download that.

Almost in every case, whether it's a spiritual issue, a practical issue,

or just some normal everyday decision, you usually, if you take the time to

listen, receive some sort of guidance in your heart, don't you?

And the guidance is often, you'll feel better if you don't.

Here's the deal. A lot of the decisions that we make in life come down to us

trying to fill a hole somewhere or to feel something.

We drink alcohol or use drugs or food or sex or shopping or TV as surrogates

or to cover up something that we don't want to feel.

We send angry or passive-aggressive text messages, or we use our words as weapons

during an argument because we are scratching the itch of the lower levels of our brains.

We are looking for that quick hit of dopamine and oxytocin release that make

us feel a little bit better.

But when we do the self-brain surgery and let our frontal lobes put a little

bit of space between add to cart and check out, we can hear that little voice,

hey, friend, you'll feel better if you don't.

So the entire point of this episode this short episode is this,

when you manage to avoid the temptation to not click purchase or send the message

or flirt back or sign that deal that's a little shady you don't get that quick

hit of neurotransmitter but the next day when the chemical storm of depression

or loneliness or whatever you were feeling the night before passes,

you'll wake up and you'll feel so much better you'll say holy cow I was about

to buy something I can't afford or who I could have really ruined my marriage

or my career or my future with that decision.

In the light of day, when you've allowed yourself to be calm and quiet and listen,

or you've exercised and gotten those internal endorphins going and your brain

is alive and clear and your heart is open, that's when you'll be able to see

the wisdom in the fact that you said no to that thing,

and you had the eyes to see how God kept his word and gave you a way out.

One of the problems we have these days is that we are overstimulated,

over-caffeinated, over-medicated, sleep-deprived, and overwhelmed,

and that's why we're going so fast and we don't stop to say,

should I really do this thing?

We don't stop often enough to ask ourselves. It's like we just go on cruise

control and we react to everything.

I've watched a lot of people over the years who had injuries to their frontal lobes.

Those folks are slaves to the more basal influences of the more emotional parts

of their brains. They can't control their impulses.

They take their clothes off. They stand too close. They laugh too loud.

They do inappropriate things.

They are socially inappropriate and impulsive and they do weird stuff because

their frontal lobes are not influencing their behavior that they should,

the way that they should.

But you don't have to do that because you have intact frontal lobes.

You can remind your amygdala who's in charge.

You can stop long enough to listen and hear that little voice.

But whether you think it's just an evolutionarily acquired electrical impulse

or the literal presence of the Holy Spirit of God in your heart that tells you

to wait, however you feel about that, you can listen to that little voice.

You can sleep on it. Check another site for a better price.

Don't respond tonight to that email until you've had some sleep.

Think twice before you agree to that thing or go do that thing.

And most of the time, you'll feel better if you don't.

And look, friend, I'm just trying to help you here. I've seen how hard it is

to recover from the times that we hit send or say those words or eat those things

or have that third glass or fall off the wagon again or fudge those numbers.

I've seen it over and over again and almost every time, you'll feel better if you don't.

You have two things, we have two things that God gave us that sets us apart

from the lower animals We have a conscience and a ginormous frontal lobe.

Yeah, ginormous is a neuroanatomy term. No, it's not. I made that up.

Ginormous is a made-up word that just means something really big.

We have huge frontal lobes in relation to other animals, and that's why we can

control our behavior, and that's why we have a conscience, because God's Holy

Spirit is influencing and allowing us to think about what we think about.

Your frontal lobes can be trained to help you and not to hurt you.

They are there to help you influence and control the other parts of your brain

and to help get you across the finish line of a moment or a day or an interaction

or a conversation without blowing everything up for yourself and for other people.

Listen, this is good stuff. You need to use those frontal lobes.

And friend, God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.

He will always give you a way out and you'll feel better if you don't.

Look, this is self-brain surgery. It's biblical. It's consistent with neuroscience.

It's good self-care and it will help. But if you want it to help, you have to start today.

Hey, if this podcast was helpful to you, please be sure and check out my book.

Hope is the First Dose. It's a treatment plan for recovering from trauma,

tragedy, and other massive things. It'll help you. Okay?

It gives you the neuroscience, gives you the tools of smashing faith in scripture

and neuroscience together to help you find hope, meaning, and purpose in your

life. Life, be sure and like and subscribe to this podcast.

Leave a comment, leave a rating wherever you listen to podcasts.

Share it with your friends. Let's go today. Okay, we had a lot of downloads yesterday.

But if this episode was helpful to you, text message the link to a friend and

say, hey, please listen to this today. Please download and listen to this today.

What if we could double the number of people that heard this message today and

committed them with us to go all in?

What if you had five friends, ten friends that you could say,

hey, let's do this together. Let's listen to this podcast every day.

Let's go all in. How much would that change our culture, our society,

our churches, our families, if we all committed together, praying,

working hard, going all in, changing our approaches?

Talk to your friends. Share it. Take a second right now and share this episode

with somebody and say, hey, commit with me to go all in with my friend, Dr.

Lee Warren, and let's get after it. Hey, I'll talk to you tomorrow. God bless.