7 Deadly Strategies That Sabotage the Life You Want
What prevents you from living the life you want and that God designed for you?
By Philip K. Hardin, M.A., M. Div., LMFT, LPC
I sit with men and women every day who want a BETTER LIFE. As a counselor and life coach, God brings many my way who are looking for the life they have longed for. They want something more … they want what they imagined life would be … and they are confused by why they don’t have the life God seems to promise.
Of course, there are many reasons why life does not seem to work as we want it to. I want to offer you seven reasons from the Book of Proverbs that life may not be working the way you had hoped.
Our sins, or self-driven strategies for getting our needs met, stand in the way between us and the abundant life God offers us.
Those seven reasons are know as the “7 DEADLY SINS.” I suggest you use these “7 DEADLY SINS” as a mirror from which to see your life.
How might one or more of these sins be like a cancer in your life that is sabotaging your desires and dreams? Let’s do an assessment!
7 DEADLY SINS: Cancer to Your Soul
1. Anger
To be quick tempered, reactive, and creating chaos. Anger is not sin in and of itself, but sinful reactive/provoking (parorgismos) or vengeful (thumos) anger is a “gateway drug” – it leads to many other sins. No other sinful emotion has led to so much violence and destruction. At the heart of this kind of anger is the Hebrew idea of annoyance which means contempt and disdain between people.
2. Envy
To want someone else’s life. You see what someone else has is better than what you have and mourn over the desire to have what they have. So, envy leads us to want somebody else’s life over ours; we feel ungrateful and jealous.
3. Pride
To refuse to admit your flaws or failures and excessively love your own excellence. Pride blinds us to our brokenness, distorts our relationships, and makes us haughty and disdainful toward others. As a deadly sin, pride is believed to generate other sins further. Pride is all-around evil and leads to every other vice. It is the complete anti-God state of mind.
4. Gluttony
To make the love of pleasurable physical sensation the dominant motivation. Today this word means only overeating, but traditionally it meant the inability to live a life of delayed gratification. The spirit of gluttony is always to take the easy way out. Gluttony is the refusal to sacrifice immediate pleasure for the responsible choice that leads to happiness and fulfillment.
5. Sloth
To surrender to your cravings for ease, rest, and comfort. Lazy people live dissatisfied lives because they do not live life enough to work hard enough to so they can give to others. They are takers, not givers.
Dorothy Sayers defines “sloth” as “the sin which believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, loves nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and only remains alive because there is nothing it would die for.” Laziness destroys!
6. Greed
‘To justify dishonest financial dealings for personal gain. Greed says, “If I could make huge money, even if it requires that I lie or bribe, then why not?” The greedy heart puts wealth before moral principle. It does not merely enjoy wealth but it has come to trust in it—for security, power, acceptance by others, or control.
7. Lust
To be intensely driven to possess someone’s beautiful body for your own. We often say that a lust-driven man “wants a woman.”
But, as C. S. Lewis points out, strictly speaking, a woman is just what he does not want. He wants a pleasure for which a beautiful woman is a necessary piece of apparatus.” Real love moves you to give yourself fully to a particular man or woman. Lust works in the opposite direction. It wants to get a fulfilling, self-maximizing experience from the person.
Use these “7 Deadly Sins” like a mirror to see yourself. Consider each of these as a possible reason you have circumstances and relationships that need help and healing. Then take action.
I offer 3 action points:
1. Self-reflection
Consider each of these 7 in your personal time of solitude. Ask God to show you if any of these are killing your ability to live truthfully and authentically with God and others.
Bringing the truth into the light is the first step towards the abundant life God designed for you, your BEST life.
Listen for him to speak to your heart and be ready to take action to make some admissions about your life and act to make the appropriate corrections, i.e. grieve, confess, receive grace, repent: move towards change.
2. Feedback from Friends
Go over each of these 7 with friends who will help you be courageously honest with yourself. Share vulnerably where you are struggling or find any of the 7 to be especially challenging. Invite partnership in prayer, accountability, and encouragement to move away from these strategies and towards your dreams and desires.
James 5:16 “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”
3. Renew Desires & Dreams
Clearing these 7 sins can open you up to a renewed desire to live your best life. Be open and expectant to what God has planned for you. Begin by writing your dreams –what do you want? Ask him to make his plan clear.
Finally, Jesus came to give us life – abundant life! Don’t be afraid to pursue your best life!
Get rid of any of the “7 Deadly Sins” that are holding you back. Colossians 3
Phil Hardin works as a Licensed Professional Counselor and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with Hardin Life Resources practicing in both Jackson, MS and Fairhope, AL. Phil’s heart is for men to personally experience God’s redemptive plan through sharing their story with a community committed to whole, authentic living. Check out Men’s Coaching Weekends to learn more.
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