Think a minute…Former prime minister of England Winston Churchill became so famous for his speeches that he was called the Greatest Speaker of the 20th Century. He was also famous for his quick wit. Yet amazingly, he was not a naturally gifted and talented speaker. On the contrary, early in his life Churchill had such a bad speech problem that people mocked him and made fun of the way he talked.
Do you know how Churchill completely changed to become the Greatest Speaker of the 20th Century? He studied and wrote his speeches word-for-word on paper. Then, he practiced them countless hours in front of a mirror. He worked at saying each word just the right way with exactly the right facial expression. He also practiced pausing and pretending to struggle to find the correct word, even though he knew exactly what he was going to say. So, although Winston Churchill was not a naturally good speaker, he disciplined and trained himself to become a great one.
You and I can never succeed in life without discipline and hard work. It takes sweat to succeed in our job and career, in school, in sports, in our marriage, and in our family. Even if you’re born into a rich family, or with an intelligent mind and natural talents, you still have to work hard to truly succeed by making the most of what you were given. Even after we get the best education and training possible, we still must continue to practice and improve our skills throughout our lifetime. If we don’t, we simply will not reach our potential, let alone keep up with our competition.
Most importantly, it takes daily discipline to develop our heart and character to become the very best person we can be. We must keep learning and growing in our way of thinking and living every day. It’s not easy to quickly forgive someone who hurts us. It’s not easy to always put the needs and feelings of our spouse and children first before our own. It’s not easy to always be honest no matter what we can get away with or how much it will cost us. That is why we truly need help.
Today you can start getting all the help you will ever need by asking Jesus to take full charge of your heart and character. Remember: “God will do for you what you cannot do for yourself, but He will not do for you what you can do.” With His power and help, plus your work and sweat, you can start making the changes you need to fully become the human being He created you in His likeness to be. Just think a minute…